Bloomberg Businessweek - USA (2019-11-25)

◼ BUSINESS Bloomberg Businessweek November 25, 2019

14

ILLUSTRATION BY BAPTISTE

VIROT

● Forgethamburgers.Startupsareracing

torollout3D-printedsteaks

TheQuestforFake

Meat’sHolyGrail

ThewallsofRedefineMeatLtd.’slabinRehovot,

Israel,areplasteredwithpostersofcutsofbeef,

includingsirloins,T-bones,andrib-eyes.Books

suchasWholeBeastButcherylinethecounters

while vacuum-packedbags ofwhatlooklike

chops,groundmeat,andgristlepracticallyspill

outofthefridge.

The engineers and food researchers are,

youcouldsay,a bitobsessed.Butthestartup

isn’t lookingto sellthe perfect cut of beef.

Instead,it wantstocreatea plant-basedfacsim-

ile.Thecompanyisbuildinga 3Dprinterthat

itsayswillproducea meatlesssteakthat’sso

fatty,juicy,andperfectlymeatythateventhe

mostdedicatedcarnivore won’t know the differ-

ence. “All meat alternatives today are basically

THEBOTTOMLINE GMneedstorefreshitslineuptokeeppace

withnewEVsfromforeignandlocalcarmakersin China.The

countryis theU.S.automaker’sbiggestmarketbysales.

a meat-homogeneous mass,” says Eshchar Ben-

Shitrit, Redefine Meat’s chief executive officer. “If

you 3D-print it, you can control what’s happen-

ing inside the mass to improve the texture and to

improvetheflavor.”

Startups such asRedefine Meatand their

backerssaythat3Dprintingpromisestogivediners

thesamesensoryexperienceaseatinga realT-bone

orrumproast.Thetechnologyinvolvesdevelop-

inga designthatcanthenbeprintedcountless

times.First,proprietarycomputersoftwarecre-

atesa detailedmodelofa steak,includingthe

muscle,fat,andblood,basedonwhichevercut

it’semulating.Thatblueprintis thentransmitted

toa printerloadedwithplant-based“inks.”Hitthe

startbuttonandoutcomesa “steak.”

Alternativemeatis enjoyinga boomasclimate

changeandhealthconcernsdriveconsumersto

productssuchasthosemadebyBeyondMeatInc.

andImpossibleFoodsInc.Whileground-meat

replacementsarewidelyavailable,mimickingan

actualcutofmeathasprovedfarmorechallenging.

That’sbecausereplicatingthe mouthfeeland

visualappealofa juicysirloinis a lottougherthan

crankingoutsomethingthat’sgoingtobeslapped

betweena bun.SaysGiuseppeScionti,founderof

NovameatTechSL,a Spanishcompanydeveloping

a 3D-printedsteak:“Abeefsteakis theholygrailof

plant-basedmeat.“

Thefaux-meatcategoryhasalreadyreachedan

estimated$14billioninannualsalesworldwide,

according toBarclays Plc, and will grow to

$140billionin2029.Thesausagesandpattiesnow

onthemarketaremucheasiertomake,sinceall

theingredientsaremixedupintoa groundmash

andthensqueezedoutintotheformatofchoice.

“Wehavea lotofburgersinthemarket—many,

manyburgers,” says Dan Altschuler Malek, man-

aging partner at Unovis Partners, which manages

New Crop Capital, a venture fund that invests

has invested more than $60 billion to nurture the

NEV industry in a bid to lower the country’s reliance

on foreign energy sources and reduce air pollution.

It’s offered generous tax breaks and subsidies to EV

makers and funded thousands of public charging

stations nationwide. But now, rather than depend-

ing as heavily on incentives to purchasers of EVs,

China is shifting toward using regulations to encour-

agethegrowthoftheindustry.InJunethegovern-

mentslashedbuyers’subsidiesfrom75,000yuan

($10,660)foronetypeofbattery-powered car to

25,000 yuan. EV sales since then have dropped for

four consecutive months.

The new approach focuses on a credit-trading

programscheduledtotakefulleffectin2021.Under

the system,companieswillhavetorampupNEV

productionorbuycreditsfromotherautomakers

toavoidpunishment.

“Allofthisspeakstohowseriousthiscountry

is toward driving electrification,” Tsien says.

“Demand certainly has softened in the last couple

of years. I expect that it will come back.” —Shelly

Banjo, Tian Ying, Bruce Einhorn, and Michael Tighe

Ground-meat

replacements

are widely

available, but

imitating a real

cutofmeathas

provedmore

challenging