KFC is trying to create the world’s first laboratory-produced chicken nuggets, part of its “restaurant of the future” concept, the company announced. The chicken restaurant chain will work with the Russian company 3D Bioprinting Solutions to develop bioprinting technology that “prints” chicken meat, using chicken cells and plant material.
KFC plans to provide the bioprinting company with ingredients such as breading and spices “to achieve KFC’s signature flavor” and will seek to replicate the flavor and texture of genuine chicken.
It’s worth noting that the bioprinting process that KFC describes uses animal material, so any nuggets it produces will not be vegetarian. KFC does offer a vegetarian option in some of its restaurants; Last year it became the first fast food chain in the United States to test Beyond Meat’s plant-based chicken product, which it plans to launch at more of its locations this summer.
Bioprinted pips would be greener to produce than standard chicken meat, KFC says, citing (but not linked to) a study by the American Environmental Science and Technology Journal that says it shows the benefits of growing meat from cells, including greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption reductions compared to traditional farming methods.
“3D bioprinting technologies, initially widely recognized in medicine, are gaining popularity today in the production of foods such as meat,” said Yusef Khesuani, co-founder of 3D Bioprinting Solutions in a statement announcing the KFC partnership. “In the future, the rapid development of such technologies will allow us to make 3D printed meat products more accessible and we hope that the technology created as a result of our cooperation with KFC will help accelerate the launch of cell-based meat products in The market.”
3D bioprinting is a slow and laborious process. Although there have been some promising advances towards its use in medicine. Researchers at the University of California at Berkeley working on a process to bio-print human organs for transplants noted last year that biological materials tend to deteriorate before the process is complete. His method required freezing the biological material while it was printing. However, experts believe there is still a long way to go before 3D bioprinting can create functional organs for transplant patients.
KFC says its bioprinted nuggets will be available for final testing in Moscow this fall. The announcement does not detail how the process it is testing in Russia differs from other 3D bioprinting efforts, but said “there are no other methods available on the market that can allow the creation of such complex products from animal cells.” It is not known when or if the printed nuggets might be available for KFC customers to sample.
