Israeli Startup Boosts Cultivated Meat With 3D Printing Upgrade

An Israeli startup that prints cultivated meat says it has increased its production potential with major software and hardware upgrades to its industrial 3D bio-printer.

Deep-tech startup Steakholder Foods uses a selection of curated stem cells in its bio-ink to offer a range of cultivated meat products. With the upgrade, the company can now use high-volume printing to produce cultivated meat on a commercial scale. 

The upgrade includes multiple technological advances, such as hundreds of bio-ink nozzles working simultaneously and a new modular structure that allows the meat to be more precisely tailored to individual tastes. 

Steakholder Foods has also developed unique software that allows for more complex and accurate 3D printing, which means that almost any kind of meat can be printed with extreme precision. This opens the door to options beyond the current offerings of chicken, beef, and pork to include fish. 

“From the mechanical design to the software and electronics, this upgrade brings us one step closer to mass production,” said Itamar Atzmony, Vice President of Engineering at Steakholder Foods. 

The upgrades mean Steakholder Foods may soon be able to mass produce cultivated meat, which would make it a competitive, slaughter-free alternative to industrialized farming and fishing. 

​​Steakholder Foods was founded in 2019, and is based in Rehovot, central Israel.