Rice and beef finally come together
Yonsei University
It's the ultimate fusion food. Two key ingredients come together in a lab-created hybrid format for ready-to-eat rice and beef meals.
A number of research groups and companies are developing meat products grown from cells in the laboratory to address issues such as the heavy environmental impact of animal agriculture.
Rather than coaxing animal cells to grow into large structures that replicate the texture of meat (which has proven difficult) Hong Jin-ki Doctors from Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea, wanted to create a “new complete food” by fusing rice grains with cultured animal cells.
They first coated the rice grains with fish gelatin so that the cow muscle cells could attach to the rice grains, and then allowed the cells to grow throughout the rice grains for about five to seven days. The rice was then placed in a culture medium to encourage the growth of bovine cells within the grain.
The resulting beef-rice hybrid can be boiled or steamed just like regular rice. Hong said its texture is harder, more brittle and less sticky than regular rice, and it has a nutty taste.
“It's not like beef in the traditional sense, but it offers a new gastronomic experience that combines the familiarity of rice with the richness of meat's flavor,” he says.
Researchers found that hybrid rice contained 7% more protein and 8% more fat than regular rice. Researchers estimate that beef production releases about 50 kilograms of carbon dioxide per 100 grams of protein, compared to about 6 kilograms of carbon dioxide released per 100 grams of protein.
Hong said that unlike other types of cultured meat, all the ingredients used to make beef rice are well-known, cheap and highly nutritious. Additionally, this process does not involve genetic modification.
“These benefits…offer a more sustainable way to produce meat, reduce the environmental footprint associated with traditional livestock farming, and create new food sources that can meet the growing global demand for protein. We provide that,” Hong said.
“Not only is it a great gimmick, but it can also be very useful,” he says. Johannes Le Coutre at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. “The key is whether these products can be scaled up. The challenge is growing meat cells on rice at scale.”
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Source: www.newscientist.com
