No, the First Plant-Based Meat Was Not Produced by an Israeli Company
The Claim
The Israeli company Redefine Meat produces the first-ever plant-based piece of meat in the world.
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Online news websites and social media accounts have recently shared alleged news that the Israeli company Redefine Meat produced the first piece of plant-based meat in the world.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar’s team investigated the claim and found it misleading. The Israeli company Redefine Meat did not produce the first plant-based meat. Instead, Giuseppe Scionti, Italian Barcelona’s Polytechnic University of Catalonia professor and researcher, founded Novameat to 3D-print plant-based meat.
Misbar’s team interviewed Scionti, who said he won a patent in 2018 from the European Patent Office for producing the first-ever plant-based meat via 3D printing in 2017.
Description: The screenshot shows the patent Scionti obtained in 2018 for 3D-printing the first plant-based meat.
Scionti stated that the reason for the confusion is that the Israeli company Redefine Meat is marketing itself as number one in the world, as it mentioned on its official page.
Scionti told Misbar that his company’s patent was cyber attacked recently, saying, “We received an anonymous note from a third party about our patents... This means that someone cyber attacked our patent, but we were able to protect ourselves. This is an aggressive approach; it does not set a good example. We must cooperate and work together to improve our health and the future of our planet.”
An article published by The Guardian on Jan. 10, 2020, and titled “The ‘Most Realistic’ plant-based steak revealed” mentioned both the Spanish and Israeli companies. The article also stated that the plant-based meat produced by the Spanish company is more realistic than the Israeli company.
An article published by Food Navigator shows that the Israeli company launched the 3D piece of meat on June 30, 2020, six months after the Spanish company’s 3D-printed plant-based was produced.
3D-printed meat already existed earlier, with the American company Impossible Foods, Inc starting manufacturing veggie burgers in 2017.
The claim started to circulate after the Israeli company raised $135 million last January to open branches in Israel and the Netherlands.
The 3D-printed meat is made from pure vegetable-based ingredients, such as rice or beans and seaweed protein powder.
Translated by Ahmed N. A. Almassri
