Moove over, cows: Hebrew U researchers craft perfect bite of meat by designing plant-based steaks

The researchers at the Jerusalem institution do this by molding new metamaterials for the kitchen to reduce greenhouse gases and wasted water.

 METAFAT in the Hebrew University labs. (photo credit: HEBREW UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM)
METAFAT in the Hebrew University labs.
(photo credit: HEBREW UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM)

The global demand for meat is expected to grow by 50% over the next two decades, driven by population growth and urbanization, but obtaining it from cows, sheep, goats, and other farm animals seriously endangers the environment because of the greenhouse gases they produce, which contributes 14.5% of these gases around the world.

In addition, a recent report by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization found that farming impacts animal diversity and consumes 20% of the global freshwater supply.

The latest estimates suggest the shift to plant-based meat would produce 96% to 98% lower greenhouse gas emissions and the use of 67% to 97% less freshwater than traditional agriculture. As a result, these growing environmental demands have prompted research into alternative protein sources.

Israeli and Palestinian engineers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HU) have developed unique metamaterials for the cost-effective injection molding of whole cuts of meat. Current approaches range from plant protein to fungi and cell-based protein production termed cultivated meat.

The authors, who have published their study in the prestigious journal Nature Communications under the title “Metamaterial-based injection molding for the cost-effective production of whole cuts,” have achieved a coming together of gastronomy and materials science and offer a blueprint for the future of food production.

DR. MOHAMMAD GHOSHEH and Prof. Yaakov Nahmias developed meat analogues that mimic the intricate architecture of muscle and fat. (credit: HEBREW UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM)Enlrage image
DR. MOHAMMAD GHOSHEH and Prof. Yaakov Nahmias developed meat analogues that mimic the intricate architecture of muscle and fat. (credit: HEBREW UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM)

Such innovations are crucial for building a sustainable food system, and by introducing new metamaterials into the kitchen, this research opens new possibilities for designing food products that are as appealing as they are sustainable, they said.

The work uses cutting-edge materials science to overcome the long-standing challenges of replicating the texture and structure of traditional meat while offering a scalable and cost-effective production method that surpasses 3D printing technology.

Metamaterials are composite materials whose properties arise from their structure rather than their composition. By adopting principles typically used in the aerospace industry, the team – led by HU’s Dr. Mohammad Ghosheh and Prof. Yaakov Nahmias – developed meat analogs that mimic the intricate architecture of muscle and fat.

They were produced using injection molding, a high-capacity manufacturing process borrowed from the polymer industry, marking the first time this technology has been applied to alternative meat production.

Central to the innovation are two novel metamaterials: a low-temperature meat analog that replicates the fibrous texture of muscle tissue and proteoleogel, a plant-protein-stabilized oleogel that emulates the structural integrity and cooking behavior of animal fat.


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Together, these materials allow the creation of complex meat cuts, such as steaks, chops, and T-bones, with amazing precision and sensory similarity. They can also become chicken breast and even “lobster tails,” Nahmias told The Jerusalem Post in an interview.

They said the implications of this technology extend beyond culinary innovation. Unlike existing 3D printing methods for meat analogs, which are slow and expensive, injection molding offers a transformative leap in scalability and affordability.

A large-scale production

At large-scale production, this method reduces costs to $9 per kilogram, nearly a quarter of the cost of 3D printing, making sustainable meat alternatives accessible to a broader audience.

Blind taste tests they conducted revealed the sensory appeal of these products, with participants saying they were unable to distinguish between the steak analog and traditional meat. This milestone signifies a major step forward in consumer acceptance of sustainable protein alternatives, particularly for whole cuts, which represent over half of global meat consumption.

“Our work demonstrates the untapped potential of metamaterials in food technology,” said Nahmias. “By harnessing their unique structural properties, we have developed a solution that is not only sustainable but also scalable, addressing the growing global demand for meat while mitigating its environmental impact.”

The global meat market stood at $1.378 trillion in 2023, representing a volume of over 350 x 109 kg of meat products annually.

Current approaches successfully reproduce the texture of ground meat products such as hamburgers and meatballs using textured vegetable protein or tissue engineering, but the manufacturing of complex whole cuts that comprise about 54% of the market is limited to 3D printing, which was originally developed in 2003.

3D printing produces multiscale materials slowly, depositing one fiber at a time through additive manufacturing. This process is thus inherently limited to the rate of deposition of fibers with a diameter ranging from 0.1 to 1 mm. It requires high-resolution motors and technical expertise that further limit process scalability.

Injection molding is a high-capacity plastic manufacturing technology developed in the 1940s. This $262 billion industry uses low-temperature extrusion to inject molten polymers into molds, creating complex multi-material products. The application of injection molding to meat manufacturing would double the total market of meat alternatives.

The challenge lies in the multiscale nature of meat, Nahmias continued. “Meat is a crosscut of overlocking muscles 1 to 5 cm. in diameter. Muscles are composed of parallel fascicles and fibers that are 1 and 0.1 mm in diameter. Animal fat is a similarly complex connective tissue that can be chemically described as a protein hydrogel permeated with lipid droplets.

“While plant-based oils such as coconut oil rapidly melt during cooking, animal fat binds oil droplets during cooking while creating stable connections between muscle and bone elements in the meat.”

Ghosheh is “a brilliant engineer from eastern Jerusalem, a student in my lab for the last seven years who worked previously in drug development,” Nahmias continued.

“His family was in the meat business outside the Green Line for several years, so it was a perfect match. I brought my mom’s recipes, and he brought his. Our first experimental product was lamb chops. Since his family and mine were from Turkey, we had similar tastes, but we found that Americans and Europeans thought it was too gamey and spicy, so we toned it down,” Nahmias recalled.

“We are starting a company that will be located in California, where it’s a great place to start a new cuisine. There is a big community of those ready to eat plant-based food instead of real meat.”

The company’s products will go on sale in a few years, as a manufacturing facility must be built. He concedes that he doesn’t know how the kashrut authorities will feel about plant-based “lobster tail” and eating “T-bone steak” at dairy meals. There was initially rabbinical opposition to non-dairy creams because it gave the impression that kosher Jews were mixing meat and dairy, but this dissipated.