Russia's first lab-grown meat: a taste of things to come?
A Russian company claims to have produced a piece of lab-grown meat - reputedly for the first time in Russia.
The Ochakovo Food Ingredient Plant grew a 40-gram 'meatloaf' from cells taken from an Aberdeen Angus calf.
It wasn't a quick or cheap process - it took two years and cost almost $14,000 to make this small portion of so-called 'cultured meat'.
The company believes that if made legal - and with new technology - cultured meat could appear on store shelves for $12 per kilo by 2023.
The scientists also say the lab-grown meat would mean 'no more killing' of livestock, and also bring many more benefits to consumers.
(SOUNDBITE) (Russian) OCHAKOVO FOOD INGREDIENT PLANT LAB HEAD, DINA STEPANOVA, SAYING:
"We can cultivate meat with targeted properties. For instance, meat with de-saturated fatty acids, like the ones fish have. Or meat enriched with vitamins. We can grow meat enriched with iron - for vegetarians who have anemia."
An alternative to natural and lab-grown meat is already here.
With imitation meat already popular in restaurants and supermarkets in some parts of the world.
Including this TGI Friday's in Moscow, that sells plant-based burgers.
