Fake Steak: How Meat Can Be 3D Printed And Whether It Is Sustainable

4 materials used for 3D printing and factors influencing the environmental footprint

A 3D printed fake steak (credit: Rimma Bondarenko on Shutterstock)

3D printing meat sounds like something from science fiction. But interestingly, it isn’t science fiction anymore, and has been realized in recent years to replace real meat. This is important, as the meat industry is currently environmentally unfriendly. This industry requires a lot of resources, for example to grow food for livestock. Also, the livestock sector emits a lot of greenhouse gases, currently 14.5% of all greenhouse gases we emit. Especially beef from cows that are raised for meat only is problematic.

Comparison of greenhouse gas emissions per kilogram (2.2 pounds) to produce different types of meat (credit: Our World in Data)

To reduce the negative environmental impact of meat and mitigate climate change due to greenhouse gas emission, many different strategies have been proposed. For example, changing our diet, reducing food waste, improving technologies, and developing innovative products.

One of these innovative products is 3D printed meat. 3D printing means making three dimensional objects based on a digital file by putting layer over layer. In this case, the solid object is meat…