Would You Eat a Chicken Nugget with Veins? Japan’s Lab-Grown Mega-Nugget Sparks a New Food Debate

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In a development, part science fiction, part Sunday dinner, Japanese scientists have just unveiled the world’s largest lab-grown chicken nugget with veins. Yes, you read that right. The nugget, grown in a lab using a simulated circulatory system of hollow fibres, marks a huge leap forward in the cultivated meat race. But before you fire up the air fryer, no it’s not edible yet.

Source: Professor Shoji Takeuchi - Chicken nugget with muscle

Cultured meat has long been limited by size and structure. Most offerings resemble ground mush or thin slices, because growing thick, muscle-like chunks has been near impossible, until now. Using a new bioreactor that mimics a circulatory system, researchers at the University of Tokyo have managed to grow a 7cm by 2cm nugget-shaped chunk of chicken muscle. It’s not much bigger than a golf ball, but in the world of lab-grown meat, it’s practically a T. rex drumstick.

At the heart of the breakthrough is a network of 50 hollow fibres that act like veins, delivering oxygen and nutrients deep into the tissue. Previously, lab-grown meats couldn’t grow beyond a few millimetres thick because the cells in the centre simply starved. This method, published in Trends in Biotechnology, keeps them fed, alive, and growing in the right direction, literally. It’s the first time muscle fibres have grown like this outside a living animal.

But don’t expect to see it in your supermarket freezer just yet. The team hasn’t tasted the nugget as it wasn’t made with food-safe materials. Plus, the current vein-removal process is still done by hand, which is about as scalable as peeling grapes for a banquet.

Source: Professor Shoji Takeuchi - Chicken nugget with muscle in lab

Still, the implications are huge, not just for food, but for regenerative medicine, drug testing, and even soft robotics. Professor Shoji Takeuchi, co-author of the study, says this fibre-based system could open the door to growing whole cuts of meat, chicken breasts, steaks, or even that perfect Sunday roast, without the animal. That is, if consumers are willing to stomach it.

Part of the hesitation comes down to the uncanny factor - meat grown in a lab, potentially containing artificial veins, sounds more Blade Runner than backyard BBQ. Add in worries about safety, unnaturalness, and sheer unfamiliarity, and the path to the dinner table gets complicated.

Still, the nugget represents a key step in pushing meat beyond the farm and into the fermenter. For eco-conscious eaters, lab-grown options could one day offer protein with a smaller footprint and none of the slaughter. But until it’s food-grade, automated, and a little less Frankenstein-y, it’s probably staying in the lab.

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