Redefine Meat, a food 3D printing firm developing animal-free meat, has commercially launched its first-ever series of ‘New-Meat’ products to selected restaurants and hotels in Israel.
Fabricated using the firm’s proprietary food 3D printing technology, the new range of plant-based alt-meat products consists of a 6Oz hamburger, sausage, ‘lamb’ kebab, middle eastern ‘cigar’, and ground beef.
Following testing and validation with leading chefs and consumers, the New-Meat products are now available in select restaurants and hotels in Israel. Redefine Meat plans to extend the rollout of the range to Europe in Q4 of this year and to the US and Asia in 2022.
In addition to the commercial availability of its first product range, the company has also revealed plans to launch its first whole cut alt-meat range later this year.
“Launching our first product portfolio represents a big step in our mission to become the world’s largest meat company, and accelerates our ability to bring to market our further innovation later this year,” said Eshchar Ben-Shitrit, CEO and Co-founder of Redefine Meat. “Each product in the range and the ones to follow are born from our understanding of meat at the molecular level, extensive R&D and technological innovation, which combined provides us the ability to create any meat product that exists today.
“This has been critical to achieving a superiority in taste that honestly, we did not even expect, and the technological versatility to do what no other has done – replace every part of the cow with tasty plant-based meat.”
Redefining alt-meat with additive manufacturing
Redefine Meat was established in 2018 with the goal of improving sustainability within the global meat industry. The Israel-based company has developed its own proprietary 3D printing technologies to produce plant-based meat alternatives that replicate the appearance, texture, and flavor of roasted meats and steak while negating the environmental impacts of animal farming.
The company has grown rapidly since its founding, having raised $6 million in seed funding in 2019 to advance the development of its alt-meat 3D printer. The printer itself reportedly has a 95 percent smaller environmental impact than animal meat produced via conventional farming. The following year, Redefine Meat unveiled its first industrially 3D printed Alt-Steak product, made up of the firm’s own formulated Alt-Muscle, Alt-Fat, and Alt-Blood plant-based ingredients.
At the beginning of this year, the firm conducted a successful large-scale blind-tasting of its Alt-Meat products in partnership with Israeli meat distributor Best Meister. The truck received more than 600 visitors and sold out in less than five hours, with consumer feedback validating the company’s products as comparable to real meat in terms of flavor and texture. As a result of the event’s success, Redefine Meat entered into a strategic partnership with Best Meister to provide the go-to-market infrastructure for the firm’s alt-meat products to Israel’s culinary sector.
Most recently, Redefine Meat raised a further $29 million in Series A funding to support the commercial launch of its products, in addition to expanding its alt-meat portfolio and accelerate the company’s international growth.
The 3D printed ‘New-Meat’ portfolio
Redefine Meat’s first commercial 3D printed alt-meat range consists of five plant-based products, the first of which is the 6Oz Redefine Burger.
Developed with feedback from leading chefs and butchers in Europe, the burger is engineered to provide consumers with a juicy yet firm meaty bite featuring the bulky grain texture one would expect from a butcher or steakhouse. Prior to launch, the Redefine Burger was tested in an exclusive behind-the-scenes launch at one of Israel’s most prestigious meat restaurants that until then had never served alt-meat.
Also available in the New-Meat range is Redefine Ground Beef, which targets a gap in the alt-meat market for an easy-to-cook minced meat substitute. Claimed to possess a subtle “animalic” flavor, the ground beef can reportedly adapt to any cooking method and dish, performing particularly well on a charcoal grill. The product is designed to be used by chefs as a basis for a wide variety of dishes in their restaurants, and has a growing pre-order list from businesses in the US, Europe, and Asia.
Further products in the range include the Redefine Sausage, which offers a plant-based alternative to a pork sausage that retains a bulky meaty bite, and the Redefine Cigar, which emulates a classic middle eastern treat and is designed specifically for the hospitality sector. The Cigar features a flaky crust that is filled with New-Meat and can form part of a quintessential hors d’oeuvres.
The final product in the range, the Redefine Kebab, has been developed in stealth mode by the company for more than two years. Claimed to be the “most meat-like product ever” to be introduced in the past decade, the minced meat product is designed as an alternative to the common lamb meat street food dishes in cuisines ranging from the middle east through to India.
The first Israeli restaurants and hotels offering Redefine Meat’s New-Meat product range are: Hudson, Nam, Asif Center, Eddi’s Hideout, The Lounge, Sinta Bar, C2, Guesta, Joz & Daniel, and Budega American Kitchen.
“In 2018, my co-founder and I started with a vision to replace the entire cow with tasty meat alternatives that would be embraced by meat lovers around the world,” said Ben-Shitrit. “With the backing of such strong investors and strategic partners, and the incredible global interest we continue to receive, the progress we have made has been phenomenal and we’re only just getting started.
“For those seeking to believe it, I encourage you to try our New-Meat and taste it for yourself. We don’t expect you to like it, we expect your mind to be blown.”
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Featured image shows the Redefine Burger – reportedly the world’s first 3D printed premium restaurant-style burger, packing 170 grams of New-Meat. Photo via Redefine Meat.
