Scientists reveal first ever lab-grown eel which looks and tastes like the real thing

Space scientists are busy experimenting with ways to grow vegetables in space, whilst here on Earth, researchers are looking for new ways to replace current food sources.

To add to the collection of meat grown in a lab, scientists have now found a way to grow Japanese eel - or unagi - artificially.

The Japanese delicacy is grown from embryonic cells. In contrast to other lab-grown meat which combines separately produced protein and fat cells into a 'scaffold', this particular lab-grown eel can be created without one.

Forsea Foods has successfully grown eel in a lab / Forsea

Israeli start-up Forsea Foods uses pluripotent stem cells to generate 'organoids', which are essentially tiny miniaturised 3D tissue structures containing both fat and protein.

The organoids are then left to self-organise into tissues, eliminating the need for a scaffold.

The company recently partnered up with executive chef Katsumi Kusomoto to create two traditional Japanese dishes using lab-grown meat.

With the lab-grown eel, Kusomoto prepared unagi kabayaki (marinated grilled eel over rice) and unagi nigiri (eel sushi).

Roee Nir, CEO and co-founder of Forsea, said that this will 'provide the consumer with a genuine seafood experience without putting further strain on aquatic life.'

Nir added: 'Forsea is pioneering the fusion of traditional, high-quality Asian cuisine with groundbreaking technology to create the world’s first cultured unagi.'

Unagi kabayaki and unagi nigiri / Forsea

This is the first time that fish has been created in a lab but sheds light on the potential substitute of the expensive meat within the Japanese market.

Chef Kusomoto said: 'Unagi is an enduring favourite in Japan, its timeless appeal, however, is impacted by a growing awareness among the Japanese population of the need to take a more sustainable approach.'

The cause for such innovation comes from Japan's high consumption of eels. In 2000, Japan consumed 160,000 tonnes of eel, however this has since fallen by 80%.

Other factors such as overfishing and habitat destruction have detrimentally impacted the population of wild eels. As of 2018, freshwater eels have been listed as an endangered species by the IUCN Red List.

According to the Tokyo Metropolitan Central Wholesale Market, the market prices for a kilo of eel have more than doubled from £12.30 (¥2,300) to £29.68 (¥5,553) between 2010 and 2023.

Restaurant prices meanwhile can reach up to £250 per kilo.

While the eel meet from Forsea Foods is currently a prototype, the company claims its ready to scale its process and could be ready for commercial launch by 2025.