Australian food startup creates meatballs from extinct mammoths

Extinct thousands of years ago, woolly mammoths were a nutritious food source for prehistoric humans. Now, the Australian-based cultured meat startup is bringing mammoth meat back to the modern age.

Massive mammoth meatballs are presented to the public at the NEMO science museum in Amsterdam, Netherlands. This is the product of Wov and the international experts in the project affirm that this breakthrough will revolutionize the food industry.

See more: The 30,000-year-old mammoth carcass with skin and hair on was found in a Canadian gold mine

The Wov team used extinct mammoth DNA to make mammoth meatballs, which were then filled with missing DNA from genetic data from the mammoth’s closest relative, the living African elephant. .

The scientists then inserted the synthetic gene into a muscle cell. The meat was cultured by the scientists for several weeks and yielded 400g of mammoth meat.

Tim Noakesmith, co-founder of Vow, said: “We chose woolly mammoth meat because it is a symbol of loss, being made extinct by climate change.”said Tim Noakesmith, co-founder of Vow.

Noakesmith added: “We will face the same fate if we don’t do things differently.”including changing practices such as large-scale farming and diet.

This mammoth meatball is a one-off production and there are no plans for commercial production.

Cultured meat is actual animal meat produced using advanced molecular technology from animal cells, not actual animal cells. Cultured meat can significantly reduce the environmental impacts commonly associated with conventional meat production such as slaughter and slaughter and can be engineered to be better in both taste and nutritional content.

How does it taste?

Ernst Wolvetang of the University of Queensland’s Australian Institute of Bioengineering, who worked with Vow on the project said: “I wouldn’t eat it at the moment because we haven’t seen this protein in 4,000 years. But after testing it for safety, I’m really curious to know what it tastes like.”

Scientists in an oven slowly cooked the giant meatball before browning its appearance with a soldering iron.

James Ryan, Vow’s chief science officer, said: “The mammoth’s giant meatball smells like when we cook crocodile meat.”