The process differs from lab-grown or “cultured” meat.

Cultured meat is produced by cultivating animal cells and growing real animal tissue using cellular scaffolds in carefully controlled laboratory conditions. Metamaterial-based “meat analogues,” as they are called, use engineered materials through injection molding that mimics the texture and structure of meat without using any animal cells. The metamaterials are engineered with specific structural properties, rather than relying on their chemical composition.

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem research team, led by Dr. Mohammad Ghosheh and Prof. Yaakov Nahmias, adapted metamaterials—composite materials whose unique properties stem from their structure — rather than their composition — to replicate the intricate texture and architecture of traditional meat. Drawing inspiration from the aerospace and polymer industries, they developed a novel injection molding process that achieves unprecedented precision and efficiency in meat analogue production.