Australian startup introduced a meatball made of “mammoth meat”

An Australian start-up has introduced a meatball made from mammoth meat grown in a laboratory. So the company decided to revive the discussion about the future of meat and demonstrate achievements in the production of artificial sources of protein.

To grow mammoth meat, the company used the publicly available genetic information of an extinct mammal, filled in the missing parts with the genetic data of its closest living relative, the African elephant, and placed them in a sheep cage. The cells began to divide, and there were enough of them for meatballs the size of a small ball.

The meatball presentation was held at the Amsterdam Science Museum. When it was prepared – first slowly baked, and then treated with a blowtorch – a pleasant smell was felt, the Associated Press reports.

For the production of artificial, or cellular, meat, it is not necessary to kill animals, which, according to experts, is better not only for animals, but also for the environment. Now millions of hectares of land are used for agriculture all over the world, including for grazing cattle and growing fodder for them.

In addition, animal husbandry accounts for more than 14% of all anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases that affect the climate. Climatic changes, in turn, lead to an increase in the frequency and intensity of natural disasters, from which people and animals suffer.

• Artificial meat products are developed by more than a hundred companies in different countries of the world. However, only Singapore has allowed its sale so far.