Israel just became the first country to approve the sale of lab-grown beef
Whether the futuristic meat is Kosher or not is still up for debate
Aleph Farms’ cultivated steak, marketed under the brand name “Aleph Cut.” Courtesy of Aleph Farms
By Sam Lin-Sommer January 22, 2024
Age-old Rabbinic arguments about how to properly slaughter cattle have received a dramatic twist: Israel just became the first country to approve the sale of lab-grown beef.
Last week, the Israeli Health Ministry granted provisional approval to the Rehovot-based firm Aleph Farms to market its cultivated steak, called the Aleph Cut. It now just needs to pass one regulatory hurdle, a quality control check at its processing plant in Rehovot, before it can put its futuristic foodstuff on sale.
The Aleph Cut is grown in a large, metal bioreactor from a fertilized Black Angus cow egg cell that is fed on soy and wheat plant protein, and then processed into a steak-like cut. Since the high-tech meat is still quite expensive to produce — an earlier version cost $50 per serving — the firm will primarily market it to fine dining restaurants, Haaretz reported.
And though religious authorities in Israel cannot certify a food until it has been approved for commercial sale, there are signs that the Aleph Cut may ultimately be deemed Kosher. Last year, Israel’s Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi, David Lau, declared that Aleph’s steak could be considered pareve rather than meat, since it does not contain blood or require slaughter. The CEO of the Orthodox Union, on the other hand, told Time magazine that the company’s steak was inherently unkosher, because it qualifies as meat from an animal that has not been slaughtered. Both leaders agreed that the steak should not be eaten alongside dairy products, though, dashing dreams of a kosher cheeseburger.
Aleph Farms also hopes to become the first halal-certified meat cultivator in its facilities in Israel and Singapore. About 18% of Israeli citizens are Muslim, along with the vast majority of people in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and broader Middle East-North Africa region. And a halal-certified plant in Singapore would help the company make inroads into Southeast Asia’s significant Muslim population.
This watershed moment for meat cultivation is occurring in a country that is fourth in the world in beef consumption per capita, behind Argentina, Brazil, and the United States. Since Israel lacks the land and water resources to keep up with demand, it imports most of its beef, often in the form of live cattle shipped to Israel in crowded boats.
Aleph Farms hopes that its cultured beef will ease the pressures of meat consumption on the environment, and in 2020, the company announced a goal to eliminate net carbon emissions across its supply chain by 2030. It’s worth noting that last year, a group of researchers at University of California, Davis, found that lab-grown beef was likely to have a larger environmental impact than conventionally farmed beef.
Still, Aleph Farms claims that no cows are harmed when it harvests cells, giving its product a clear advantage over its slaughtered equivalent as far as animal rights are concerned. A Time magazine reporter who sampled Aleph’s meat in 2022 declared, “It tastes like steak. Without the guilt.”
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