Aleph Farms Gets World’s First Approval of Cultured Beef

Jan. 18, 2024

The Israeli firm has approval to sell its cell-grown beef in its home country Israel.

Cultured chicken has been approved in a few world markets, but Israel’s Aleph Farms claims to have gotten the world’s first approval to sell cultured beef, compliments of Israel’s Health Ministry.

According to the Times of Israel on Wednesday (Jan. 17), the country’s health ministry approved Aleph’s cultured beef after a pilot program for alternative protein was carried out by the Dept. of Food Risk Management at the ministry’s National Food Service. It said that in light of the growing global demand for “products of non-living origin” it is working to approve alternative food sources.

Although the development was just reported this week, Aleph Farms said the ministry in December issued it a “no questions” letter for its Aleph Cuts brand, meaning the product is recognized as safe.

Cultured chicken has been approved for sale in Singapore since December 2020, and U.S. regulators last June approved chicken products from both Upside Foods and Good Meat, but Israel becomes the first country to OK beef grown from cells.

The company still faces a bureaucratic process before the products are available for purchase, the Times of Israel noted. It hopes to roll out its Black Angus Petit Steak later this year, according to Hebrew media reports.

Yoav Reisler, senior marketing and communications manager at Aleph Farms, told the Green Queen website that the plan is to introduce Aleph Cuts to diners “offering exclusive tasting experiences curated in collaboration with select partners.”

About the Author

Dave Fusaro | Editor in Chief

Dave Fusaro has served as editor in chief of Food Processing magazine since 2003. Dave has 30 years experience in food & beverage industry journalism and has won several national ASBPE writing awards for his Food Processing stories. Dave has been interviewed on CNN, quoted in national newspapers and he authored a 200-page market research report on the milk industry. Formerly an award-winning newspaper reporter who specialized in business writing, he holds a BA in journalism from Marquette University. Prior to joining Food Processing, Dave was Editor-In-Chief of Dairy Foods and was Managing Editor of Prepared Foods.