3D-printed plant-based steak will come to Europe

By the end of 2022, thousands of restaurants in Europe should serve ‘as if it were an actual’ plant-based steak from a 3D printer. That is the goal of the Israeli start-up Redefine Meat, which wants to become the largest meat company in the world thanks to its meat substitutes.

New factory in the Netherlands

Redefine Meat has kicked off its European expansion. The young Israeli company claims to have found a revolutionary meat alternative that cannot be distinguished from beef steaks either in texture or taste. The plant-based steaks roll out of the 3D printer, where muscle tissue, fat tissue and blood are imitated as carefully as possible with soya, peas, beetroot and coconut fat as ingredients. 

At the moment, the meat substitute is only available at a few exclusive restaurants, but by the end of next year, it should reach thousands. Redefine Meat will also open production facilities in Europe, more specifically, next spring in the southern region of the Netherlands. The company’s number two is also a Dutchman, Edwin Bark. The plant-based steak should thus already be available in the Netherlands and Belgium in March or April.

The Israeli company already has minced meat, kebab, sausages and lamb steak in its range. The meat substitutes are said to have 95 per cent less environmental impact than traditional meat. Scaling up production will be necessary to make the prices more accessible. In time, the plant-based steak should cost as much as “real quality meat”, Bark told Belgian newspaper De Standaard.

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