2017 | FoodTech
Didier Toubia, Co-Founder and CEO
Shulamit Levenberg, Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Adviser
Aleph Farms grows beef steaks from non-genetically engineered cells isolated from a living cow, without slaughtering the animal and with a significantly reduced impact to the environment
Many companies operate in the Foodtech space, but how many of them were the first to do crazy stuff? Aleph Farms is one of these companies, creating the world's first cultivated steak (2018), the world's first steak cultivated in space (2019), and the world's first cultivated ribeye (2021). The company was cofounded in 2017 by Didier Toubia, The Kitchen Hub of the Strauss Group, and Professor Shulamit Levenberg from the Biomedical Engineering Faculty at the Technion with a vision to provide unconditional access to high-quality nutrition for everyone while being good stewards to people, animals, and the planet.
The driving force behind cultivated meat is developing a sustainable production system for animal products, addressing the overuse of antibiotics, environmental footprints, and animal welfare conditions associated with concentrated animal farming operations. Aleph Farms grows cultivated meat by isolating natural cells from a living cow and transferring them into a controlled environment that replicates the same physical and nutritional conditions as are in the animal’s body. One of the most compelling environmental figures to date is that cultivated beef can reduce the impact on the climate by 92%. The automated process and sterile environment of manufacturing will also eliminate the need for antibiotics and can greatly reduce the risk of pathogens or contaminants.
Aleph Farms’ scalable technology platform grants it with a clear path to reach price parity with conventional meat. With a strong commitment to net-zero carbon and partnerships with the world’s leading food and meat companies, Aleph will rapidly scale the positive impact of cultivated meat.
"We see cultivated meat as an evolution of agriculture,” says Didier Toubia. “We’re offering consumers with a choice between two types of meat products – those coming from a slaughtered animal versus cultivated meat.”
Photos courtesy of Aleph Farms