Israeli start-up Redefine Meat is planning to launch its cruelty-free 3D-printed meat substitutes globally after raising $29 million in a funding round, it said on Tuesday.
“The meat industry and its use of animals is the world’s most inefficient industry. Humanity’s ever-increasing desire for meat and the billions of animals needed to feed our hunger comes at a huge environmental cost,” Redefine Meat says on their website.
“We believe that alternative-meat production can provide lower-cost, animal-friendly, and more sustainable nutritional protein sources for humanity.”
The company says that people will continue to eat meat even if it’s destroying the environment. But those people might turn to 3D-printed meat that looks and tastes the same as animal meat.
3D-printed meat is made using the 3D-printing process that uses proteins and other ingredients to ‘print’ meat. Redefine Meat has developed an industrial-size 3D-printer that creates meat cuts such as beef, pork, and lamb.
When the 3D-printing process is finished, the products look, taste, and feel like the muscle, fat, and blood of a typical cut of meat, without slaughtering cows or other animals, the company says.
Plant-based meat alternatives are growing fast as consumers look to reduce their meat intake to help their health, animal welfare and the environment.
Co-founder Eshchar Ben-Shitrit said the new investment was a “major step” for the company that wants to partner with meat distributors worldwide to get products to customers.
Last month, they teamed up with Israeli meat distributor Best Meister for distribution to restaurants and butchers in Israel. They plan to enter Europe, starting with Germany and Switzerland, in the coming months, followed by Asia and North America later this year.
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