This 3D-printed vegan steak is hyped as the “most realistic” to date

The 3D-printed vegan steak from Spanish company Novameat claims to capture the texture and appearance of the real thing.

The Barcelona-based food tech startup is a pioneer in the realm of plant-based meat alternatives. Led by CEO Giuseppe Scionti, the company developed its first 3D-printed vegan steak in 2018. “I started with steak I think because it is the holy grail of plant-based meat,” Scionti told The Guardian.

Novameat has now teased Steak 2.0, which Scionti believes is “the first to mimic simultaneously the texture and the appearance of an animal whole muscle cut.”

Plant-based meat alternatives abound in 2020, and the supermarket range grows by the week. However, Scionti noticed a deficit in products accurately recreating the texture of muscle tissue.

Novameat’s steak 2.0 currently includes pea, seaweed and beetroot juice. But the real key is the company’s micro-extrusion technology, which produces fibres between 100 and 500 microns in diameter.

Novameat steaks are headed for restaurants in Spain and Italy later this year, while Scionti’s long term aim is to see his technology adopted on a wide scale.

“Our goal is to demonstrate that our technology works at small- and later large-scale, so that future manufacturers using this technology will be able to select a variety of ingredients, to provide a wide array of tools able to mimic different types of meat and seafood,” he told Vegconomist.

Learn more about Novameat

Scionti is also cautious about the sustainable sourcing of ingredients. “We avoid GMOs, soy, or gluten, and we spend more budget to select ingredients of top quality,” Scionti said. 

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