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Sydney Morning Herald
25-07-2025
- General
- Sydney Morning Herald
Taste test: We try Australia's new lab-grown foie gras alternative
This story is part of the July 26 edition of Good Weekend. See all 15 stories. Can lab-grown meat feed the planet and end industrial-scale animal farming? Australia recently took a small step towards this imagined future. On June 18, the country's food regulator deemed a particular form of lab-grown meat – cell-cultured quail – as safe (lab-grown chicken has already been sold in Singapore). To make the 'quail', Sydney start-up Vow submerges the cells in a 'feeder' broth of amino acids, vitamins and sugar. They're then transferred to stainless-steel tanks to multiply and, after 79 days, a paste is strained out. This pink goo is mixed with butter, shallots and brandy to make a parfait, and combined with fava bean protein and coconut oil to make lobes that resemble foie gras (pictured). Good Weekend tries the 'quasi-quail' at Melbourne's Bottarga restaurant. Chef Federico Bizzaro pipes the parfait into a pastry cigar: the creamy paste is smooth and rich with a ferrous tang that replicates real chicken-liver parfait but, honestly, with that much butter, brandy and salt, you could flavour tofu and get a similar experience. Chef then cooks a beautiful wagyu eye fillet, sears the cultivated foie gras (a $30 supplement) in wagyu fat, stacks it on the steak and showers the whole lot in truffles. It's a triple-decker luxury bomb and, as you'd expect, it's delicious. Traditional foie gras is a controversial delicacy produced by force-feeding ducks or geese so their livers enlarge. The resulting offal is subtle, creamy and oh-so-rich. 'I wouldn't serve it because the way they overfeed [the birds] isn't nice,' says Bizzaro. 'But if we can have the product without the ethical problems, then why not?' I try the pretend version by itself: the substance breaks in the mouth like steamed custard rather than coating the palate. Loading Melbourne start-up Magic Valley positions its lab-grown meat as a solution to the protein needs of a growing global population and environmental concerns about meat production. The sustainability calculus is complex, though. A 2023 study by environmental research firm CE Delft suggested cultivated meat has a potential climate impact of 3-14 kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent per kilogram of cultivated meat, compared with about 35 kilograms for conventional beef. But variables make comparisons difficult. The climate impact of carbon-positive, regenerative cattle-grazing in NSW is very different to a multi-storey pig farm in China, while a cultivated meat factory using renewable energy will have a lower impact than one that uses gas or coal. 'I'm sceptical that this is an answer for the protein needs of the world,' says Paul Wood, an adjunct professor of biotechnology at Monash University. 'Vow is world-leading and believes it could produce 10 tonnes a month. The average butcher would turn over a tonne of meat in a few days. I'd put it in the category of 'new and exciting food experience', not large-scale product.' Meanwhile, consulting firm McKinsey projected in 2023 that cultivated meat may achieve production-cost parity with conventional meat by 2030, making it a $US25 billion industry. 'I see it like electric cars,' says Bizzaro. 'You need people to buy it at the start to help them grow, experiment and drop the price over time.'
The Age
25-07-2025
- General
- The Age
Taste test: We try Australia's new lab-grown foie gras alternative
This story is part of the July 26 edition of Good Weekend. See all 15 stories. Can lab-grown meat feed the planet and end industrial-scale animal farming? Australia recently took a small step towards this imagined future. On June 18, the country's food regulator deemed a particular form of lab-grown meat – cell-cultured quail – as safe (lab-grown chicken has already been sold in Singapore). To make the 'quail', Sydney start-up Vow submerges the cells in a 'feeder' broth of amino acids, vitamins and sugar. They're then transferred to stainless-steel tanks to multiply and, after 79 days, a paste is strained out. This pink goo is mixed with butter, shallots and brandy to make a parfait, and combined with fava bean protein and coconut oil to make lobes that resemble foie gras (pictured). Good Weekend tries the 'quasi-quail' at Melbourne's Bottarga restaurant. Chef Federico Bizzaro pipes the parfait into a pastry cigar: the creamy paste is smooth and rich with a ferrous tang that replicates real chicken-liver parfait but, honestly, with that much butter, brandy and salt, you could flavour tofu and get a similar experience. Chef then cooks a beautiful wagyu eye fillet, sears the cultivated foie gras (a $30 supplement) in wagyu fat, stacks it on the steak and showers the whole lot in truffles. It's a triple-decker luxury bomb and, as you'd expect, it's delicious. Traditional foie gras is a controversial delicacy produced by force-feeding ducks or geese so their livers enlarge. The resulting offal is subtle, creamy and oh-so-rich. 'I wouldn't serve it because the way they overfeed [the birds] isn't nice,' says Bizzaro. 'But if we can have the product without the ethical problems, then why not?' I try the pretend version by itself: the substance breaks in the mouth like steamed custard rather than coating the palate. Loading Melbourne start-up Magic Valley positions its lab-grown meat as a solution to the protein needs of a growing global population and environmental concerns about meat production. The sustainability calculus is complex, though. A 2023 study by environmental research firm CE Delft suggested cultivated meat has a potential climate impact of 3-14 kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent per kilogram of cultivated meat, compared with about 35 kilograms for conventional beef. But variables make comparisons difficult. The climate impact of carbon-positive, regenerative cattle-grazing in NSW is very different to a multi-storey pig farm in China, while a cultivated meat factory using renewable energy will have a lower impact than one that uses gas or coal. 'I'm sceptical that this is an answer for the protein needs of the world,' says Paul Wood, an adjunct professor of biotechnology at Monash University. 'Vow is world-leading and believes it could produce 10 tonnes a month. The average butcher would turn over a tonne of meat in a few days. I'd put it in the category of 'new and exciting food experience', not large-scale product.' Meanwhile, consulting firm McKinsey projected in 2023 that cultivated meat may achieve production-cost parity with conventional meat by 2030, making it a $US25 billion industry. 'I see it like electric cars,' says Bizzaro. 'You need people to buy it at the start to help them grow, experiment and drop the price over time.'
SBS Australia
11-07-2025
- Business
- SBS Australia
Artificial meat becomes the new manu in Australian restaurants
LISTEN TO SBS Indonesian 11/07/2025 08:25 Indonesian Restaurants across Australia will now soon serve so-called 'cultural meat' for the first time. 'Cultured meat' is the process of taking a small number of cells from an animal - in this case, a quail - and growing them in a factory-like environment to eventually produce a type of meat product. The product is the brainchild of Australian start-up Vow, which in June became the first company in the country to get the green light to sell cultured meat. However, scaling up the industry remains a challenge and calls for better investment are emerging as countries take steps to ban the sale and consumption of cultured foods, including Italy, France, and some U.S. states. Concerns over quality and threats to farmers are some of the issues driving the rejection. Listen to SBS Indonesian every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday at 3pm. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram , and don't miss our podcasts .
Time Out
25-06-2025
- Business
- Time Out
Australia has officially become the third country in the world to approve lab-grown meat
From beyond meat and insect protein to vegan cheese and 3D-printed seafood, the past decade has dished up some bold food trends. Now, Australia's getting a taste of the future with the official approval for lab-grown (or cell-cultured) meat to be sold and consumed across the country. It's taken more than two years for Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) to give the green light to lab-grown meat, which it granted to Sydney-based startup Vow on June 18. Founded in 2019, Vow has been selling its cultivated Japanese quail foie gras to more than 25 high-end restaurants in Singapore for a year under the name 'Forged'. The Asian country made history in late 2020 as the first country to approve cultivated meat, followed by the United States in mid-2023 with lab-grown chicken. This makes Australia officially the third country in the world to approve lab-grown meat for sale and consumption. Photograph: Supplied | Vow So, how exactly is cultured meat made at Vow? It all starts with selecting the perfect cells from an animal. These cells are then placed in a huge fermentation tank with a nutrient-rich liquid, which is designed to replicate the body of a living animal. From there, the cells grow and multiply naturally. After just 79 days, a 'harvesting' process occurs where the meat is separated from the liquid, like curds from whey, and then crafted into delicacies like parfait and foie gras. Quail might seem like an odd choice, but that's exactly the point – Vow intentionally steered away from everyday meats like chicken or beef to avoid direct comparisons. Rather than competing for shelf space at the supermarket, the startup is also focusing on fine dining. Its cultured Japanese quail foie gras is set to debut on menus at Sydney's Kitchen by Mike, NEL, Olio and The Waratah, plus Bottarga, 1Hotel and The Lincoln in Melbourne – all within the next few months, if everything goes to plan. Photograph: Supplied | Vow Vow originally created the product to address global food shortages, but cultivated meat also carries potential environmental and ethical benefits – it's made without farms, emissions or animal harm. That said, as a niche product, it comes with high costs and energy demands. There's also ongoing debate around how it should be labelled, with concerns that using the word 'meat' and livestock imagery on packaging could mislead consumers. Would you be game to give it a go? A 2023 FSANZ survey of Australians and New Zealanders found that only 24 per cent would readily incorporate it into their diets, with almost half (48 per cent) saying they wouldn't. But the food world is moving fast – so who knows what our dinner plates will look like in a decade? Stay in the loop: sign up for our free Time Out Australia newsletter for more news, travel inspo and activity ideas, straight to your inbox. RECOMMENDED:
ABC News
24-06-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
BTN Newsbreak 24/06/2025
CEASEFIRE Early this morning, President Donald Trump announced on social media that Israel and Iran have agreed to a "complete and total" ceasefire that would begin later in the day. The post came soon after Iran launched missiles at a US Military base in Qatar, in retaliation for the US bombing three of Iran's nuclear sites over the weekend. The news of a ceasefire was welcomed by leaders around the world. In the hours leading up to President Trump officially announcing the ceasefire had begun, Iran launched a number of deadly attacks on Israel. However, many are hoping President Trump's declaration of a ceasefire will now lead to a more permanent end to the fighting. SOCIAL MEDIA BAN Australia's eSafety Commissioner wants YouTube to be added to the government's social media ban. The ban is set to come into effect in December of this year, but some of the details are still being hashed out. YouTube was initially going to be part of the ban, but then was made exempt, with the government saying it helped young people access education and health support they needed. But now E-Safety Commissioner Julie Inman-Grant wants the government to reconsider. LAB GROWN MEAT Food regulators say we're now allowed to eat meat made from a lab, and surprisingly, it doesn't look as weird as you'd think. The meat on that plate was created by Sydney company Vow. They collected individual cells from a Japanese Quail, which is a small bird, without harming it, and put them in a large tank of liquid like this one. It's turned into a paste, which then gets made into a meat product. Meat has been made this way for over a decade, but only handful of countries like Singapore and the Netherlands approved it as safe for sale. After a 2 year approval process, this quail meat from Vow has been approved in Australia, and could hit restaurant menus in a couple months. So is it something you'd be keen to try? LARGEST DIGITAL CAMERA First to the air with the world's largest digital camera at an observatory in Chile, designed to help us learn more about space. This animation has been made from the camera's first 1,100 images, revealing around 10 million galaxies. WHALE TOOLS Now to the sea where some very clever Orcas, who for the first time ever, have been caught on camera using tools! Yep, these two whales have rolled a bunch of kelp together, which scientists believe they designed to help groom each other. FINKE CRASH And finally to... land. Yeah these guys were recently racing in the Northern Territory's Finke Desert Race, when their car took a tumble. Now, they've released footage of the crash from inside the vehicle. No-one was injured at all, thank goodness, and the drivers involved say it's all thanks to careful planning and safety systems.
