Nature's Jude Coleman is reporting on meat-rice!
Researchers have developed a novel food product termed "meat–rice," which combines laboratory-grown beef muscle and fat cells with rice, used as a scaffold. This innovative approach, detailed in a study published in the journal Matter, aims to enhance the nutritional content of rice by slightly increasing its fat and protein levels. The creation of this rice–beef hybrid involves coating rice grains with fish gelatin and microbial transglutaminase to promote cell attachment, followed by the growth of bovine cells on the scaffold. After about a week of growth in a medium, the rice is prepared similarly to traditional rice, resulting in a nuttier and slightly harder texture. While the nutritional improvement over standard rice is marginal, the process represents a step toward sustainable and nutritious food alternatives. The project, led by a team of South Korean researchers, aims to address food insecurity and reduce the environmental impact associated with cattle farming. The cost of producing this hybrid rice is estimated to be competitive with regular rice, suggesting potential for widespread application if production can be scaled efficiently.
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Source: Nature
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-00398-w
(This article was written with assitance from ChatGPT)
