KFC will start testing its environment friendly 3D-printed chicken in Russia by end of 2020

One of the world’s largest fast-food chains specialising in chicken - KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) is set to take on an almost unbelievable task.

The chain is undertaking 3D printing of its chicken nuggets. This will mark the first laboratory produced chicken to be available for consumption, but only in Russia.

Coming this year!

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Beginning autumn of 2020, KFC, in partnership with 3D Bioprinting Solutions in Russia will roll out the artificially produced meat.

The release says that the company is attempting to imitate not only the physical characteristics of meat, but also its taste. It wants to create something "as close as possible in both taste and appearance" to “the famous KFC chicken.

As the global demands for alternative to animal meat picks up, KFC in a media release claims to have crafted the “meat of the future”.

“Our experiment in testing 3D bioprinting technology to create chicken products can also help address several looming global problems," Raisa Polyakova, the general manager of KFC Russia, said in a statement.

"We are glad to contribute to its development and are working to make it available to thousands of people in Russia and, if possible, around the world”, Polyakova added.

The testing of the final product should begin by the end of this year in Moscow. Work is underway to create an additive bio printing technology. It will use chicken cells along with plant material to recreate the taste and texture of meat. Reportedly, it will “almost” involve no animals.

Additive free

Biomeat usually carries the same characteristics and elements as the original meat, but in fact gets rid of all the additives that are used on the product for it to be produced, processed, treated, packaged, and stored. This way, the printed food will be much cleaner and additive free.

"3D bioprinting technologies, initially widely recognized in medicine, are nowadays gaining popularity in producing foods such as meat," Yusef Khesuani, co-founder of 3D Bioprinting Solutions said in a release.

"In the future, the rapid development of such technologies will allow us to make3D-printed meat products more accessible and we are hoping that the technology created as a result of our cooperation with KFC will help accelerate the launch of cell-based meat products on the market”, Khesuani added.

While citing a study done by the American Environmental Science & Technology Journal, KFC claimed that growing meat from cells will significantly cut down the negative impact on the environment. In turn, this will cut down energy consumption by over half.

As a consequence, greenhouse gas emissions will be decreased by 25 times. Additionally, 100 times lesser land will be needed to procure meat this way.

"At KFC, we are closely monitoring all of the latest trends and innovations and doing our best to keep up with the times by introducing advanced technologies to our restaurant networks…Crafted meat products are the next step in the development of our 'restaurant of the future' concept”