Aleph Farms Ltd, an Israeli food tech start-up that grows steaks directly from non-GMO cells isolated from a living animal, continues to make progress with its stated ambition of producing cultivated meat in outer space, enabling human life to become multi-planetary and unconditional nutrition to be available to all, on Earth and beyond.
Following the success of its first experiment of producing meat on the International Space Station a year ago, in collaboration with 3D Bioprinting Solutions, Aleph Farms is now launching ‘Aleph Zero’ – a proof-of-concept program to cultivate real meat directly from various types of cow cells in space, under micro-gravity and far from any natural resources.
To do so, the company continues to secure strategic partnerships with technology companies and space agencies for long-term collaborative research and development contracts that will ensure the integration of its innovative 3D tissue engineering platform into leading space programs. These programs will leverage the company’s deep-rooted know-how in cell biology, tissue engineering, and food science to establish ‘BioFarms’ in extraterrestrial environments, enabling Aleph Farms to eventually apply the lessons learned in space to earthbound sites.
“’Aleph Zero’ represents the mathematical symbol of the smallest infinite number, and how Aleph Farms brings space infinity closer by supporting deep-space exploration and colonization of new planets,” explained Didier Toubia, co-founder and CEO of Aleph Farms. “The term also represents the company’s vision for producing meat with near-zero natural resources.”
“The constraints imposed by deep-space-exploration – the cold, thin environment and the circular approach – force us to tighten the efficiency of our meat production process to much higher sustainability standards,” continued Toubia. “The program ‘Aleph Zero’ reflects our mission of producing quality, delicious meat locally where people live and consume it, even in the most remote places on Earth like the Sahara Desert or Antarctica. Providing unconditional access to high-quality nutrition to anyone, anytime, anywhere. When people will live on the Moon or Mars, Aleph Farms will be there as well.”
In May 2019, the company raised US$12 million from investors interested in its efforts to grow real beef steaks using a fraction of the resources required for raising an entire animal for meat, and without antibiotics. Pilot production will begin next year (2021) with construction of its first BioFarm, followed by the company’s commercial launch by the end of 2022.
