NovaMeat presents version 2.0 of its 3D printed steak

The Barcelona startup NovaMeat has just unveiled version 2.0 of its plant-based 3D printed steak! Having presented its first product to the public last year, the startup has continued to develop and improve on its vegan meat alternative. Its aim is to support a more humane and sustainable global food system through this initiative.

Giuseppe Scionti, the founder of NovaMeat, explained that what is particularly hard to simultaneously achieve with plant-based meat is texture, taste, appearance and nutritional value: the four parameters that define the successfulness of a meat alternative if you will. For example, plant-based ground meat exists, it looks and tastes like mince beef but the texture of meat hasn’t been nailed. To achieve these four parameters, the startup holds a patent on the microstrain that imitates the natural texture of meat tissue. Essentially, NovaMeat’s technology manages to reorganize the nanofibers from vegetables’ proteins to make them seem like animal proteins.

The plant-based meat is modeled on CAD software and later 3D printed | Credits: NovaMeat

An increasing number of companies have been developing meat alternatives, however not many are using 3D printing technologies to do so. Recently, a new version of NovaMeat’s 3D printed steak was unveiled, showing impressive improvements in texture and appearance. Moreover, the startup revealed that costs are also dropping, costing around US$1.5 to produce 50 grams. In terms of ingredients used, the plant-based protein is extracted from rice, peas and algae fibres. Additionally, it contains natural plant-based colourants like paella for appearance, and some fats such as olive, canola and coconut oil in their food paste formulation. The next step will be to make improvements in taste and nutritional value to truly offer an alternative that can compete with meat.