Lab-grown ‘beef rice’ could offer more sustainable protein source, say creators

The stem cell production process results in rice with a pale pink hue. Photograph: Yonsei University/PA

Bowls of decidedly pink-tinged rice are about to feature on sustainable food menus, according to researchers who created rice grains with beef and cow fat cells grown inside them.

Scientists made the experimental food by covering traditional rice grains in fish gelatin and seeding them with skeletal muscle and fat stem cells which were then grown in the laboratory.