An Israeli company has received the green light to produce the world’s first cultured beef steaks

The Israeli company has received a preliminary green light for the sale from health authorities World’s first steaks made from cultured beef cells, and not the whole animal, according to official sources. The move follows the approval of lab-grown chickens in the United States last year.

Eleph Farms of Rehovot, Israel, received initial approval from Israel’s Ministry of Health in December, the company said in a press release. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the decision late Wednesday. who described the development as “world progress”..

The company said it plans to introduce a cultured “small slice” to diners in Israel. Meat will be grown from cells obtained from the fertilized eggs of Lucy, a Black Angus cow living on a farm in California..

Regulators still must approve the company’s labels and conduct final inspections, said Yoav Reissler of Aleph Farms. After that, it can take months for diners to serve the product.

Aleph Farms joins Upside Foods and Good Meat, two California-based companies that moved to sell U.S.-grown chicken in June. More than 150 companies worldwide pursue the goal of producing cultured or “cell cultured” meat, also known as laboratory meat..

Proponents claim that making meat from cells will dramatically reduce animal harm and avoid the environmental impact of conventional meat production. But the industry faces hurdles, including high costs and the challenge of producing enough meat to make production affordable and profitable.

Cultured meat is grown in large steel tanks with cells from a special bank of live animals, fertilized eggs, or stored cells. The stem cells are combined with special nutrients to help them grow into dough or sheets of meat that are shaped into familiar foods like chops or steaks.