Bowls of decidedly pink-tinged rice are about to appear on sustainable food menus, according to researchers who have created rice grains with beef and cow fat cells grown in them.
Scientists made the experimental food by coating traditional rice grains with fish gelatin and seeding them with skeletal muscle and fat stem cells that then grown in the laboratory.
After growing the muscle, fat and gelatin-braised rice for nine to 11 days, the grains contained meat and fat throughout, resulting in an end product that the researchers believe could become a nutritious and flavorful food.
Prof Jinkee Hong, who led the work at Yonsei University in South Korea, cooked and tasted the beef-grown rice, which he hopes will be a more affordable source of protein than traditional beef, with a much smaller carbon footprint .
“When cooked, the rice retains its traditional appearance but carries a unique blend of aromas, including a slight nuttiness and umami characteristic of meat,” Hong said.
“Although it does not exactly replicate the taste of beef, it provides a pleasant and novel flavor experience,” he added. “We tried it with various accompaniments and it goes well with a range of dishes.”
Rice is mainly a carbohydrate with smaller proportions of protein, fat, vitamins and minerals, the scientists said. writing in the journal Matter. The integration of animal cells into rice makes it “possible to ensure an adequate food supply”, they note, by “creating a new complete meal”.
The hybrid rice is more brittle than soft and sticky traditional rice, but it has 8% more protein and 7% more fat. Rice with more muscle cells had a beef and almond-like smell, while rice with more animal fat smelled more like cream, butter and coconut oil.
According to the scientists’ calculations, hybrid rice can make food production more sustainable. Produces 100g of beef protein emits nearly 50 kg of carbon dioxide, they write, while 100 g of protein from hybrid rice would release less than 6.27 kg of the gas. Hybrid rice should also be more affordable, they add, costing around $2.23 (£1.80) per kg compared to $14.88 (£12) per kg for beef.
Besides making food more sustainable and affordable, the researchers believe hybrid rice could improve emergency food supplies in regions facing famine and serve as rations for astronauts and the military.
For the first experimental batches of hybrid rice, the researchers took muscle and fat cells from hanwoo cattle slaughtered at the local abattoir. But the team is investigating sustainable supplies of cells that can be maintained in the lab without the need for more animals. Future versions of the rice may contain other types of meat or fish to cater for different tastes and nutritional needs, Hong said.
The work received a mixed reception from independent experts. Prof Hanna Tuomisto, who researches sustainable food systems at the University of Helsinki, doubted that the rice would have much impact. The end product contained 4.8g of cultured beef cells per kg of rice, she said, meaning just 0.5% was meat and 99.5% rice. “The product is still basically rice and will be used to replace rice or other carbohydrate sources in a meal,” she said. “To replace meat, the percentage of protein in the final product will have to be higher.”
But Neil Ward, a professor of rural and regional development at the University of East Anglia, said hybrid rice raised the prospect of providing animal nutrients with eight times lower greenhouse gas emissions and at less than one-sixth the cost. “This line of research holds promise for the development of healthier and more climate-friendly diets in the future,” he said.
