(Amsterdam) Scientists unveiled a giant lab-grown meatball of an extinct woolly mammoth in Amsterdam on Tuesday, saying the ball of protein from the past paves the way for foods of the future.
The dish was on display under a glass bell jar by Australian cultured meat company Vow, at the NEMO science museum in the Dutch capital.
But the pachyderm polpette is not yet ready to be eaten: the thousands-year-old protein still has to pass safety tests before it can be devoured by modern humans.
“We chose woolly mammoth meat because it’s a symbol of loss, wiped out by previous climate change,” Vow co-founder Tim Noakesmith told AFP.
“We face a similar fate if we don’t do things differently, like changing practices like large-scale farming and the way we eat,” he adds.
Grown over several weeks, the meat was made by scientists who first identified the DNA sequence of mammoth myoglobin, the protein that gives meat its flavor.
Filling in some gaps in the mammoth myoglobin sequence using genes from the African elephant, the mammoth’s closest living relative, it was then inserted into sheep cells using a filler electric.
“I’m not going to eat it right now because we haven’t seen this protein for 4,000 years,” says Ernst Wolvetang from the Australian Institute of Bioengineering at the University of Queensland, who collaborated with Vow.
“But after security testing, I’d be really curious to see what it looks like,” he adds.
Global meat consumption has nearly doubled since the early 1960s, according to figures from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.
Livestock accounts for about 14.5% of global human-caused greenhouse gas emissions, according to the FAO.
Meat consumption is expected to increase by more than 70% by 2050, and scientists are increasingly turning to alternatives such as plant-based meats and lab-grown meat.
Sydney-based startup Vow by Mr. Noakesmith, who calls himself a “failed vegan”, is not about stopping people from eating meat, but about “giving them something better”.
“We chose to make a mammoth meatball to draw attention to the fact that the future of food can be better and more sustainable,” he says.
