Scientists create meatball from DNA of extinct woolly mammoth, but are afraid to eat it

AUSTRALIA (WTVO) — A company in Australia has created a mammoth meatball using cells from the long-extinct animal, according to The Guardian.

The company, Vox, which cultivates cells from biopsies of unconventional animals to create cultured meat, says its goal is to “transition a few billion meat eaters away from eating [conventional] animal protein” by inventing meat.

Vox said it wants to grow cultivated meat from cells without the slaughtering of animals

“We chose the woolly mammoth because it’s a symbol of diversity loss and a symbol of climate change,” said Vox co-founder Tim Noakesmith.

The company used the DNA sequence for mammoth myoglobin, a muscle protein, and then filled in the missing genetic links with elephant DNA.

So far, the company has investigated the potential of 50 exotic species to invent the perfect protein.

However, the scientists who created the meatball said they’re reluctant to eat it.

“We haven’t seen this protein for thousands of years,” said professor Ernst Wolvetang from the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology at the University of Queensland, who collaborated on the project. “So we have no idea how our immune system would react when we eat it.”

Singapore is the only country that allows lab-grown meats to be legally sold, but the US Food and Drug Administration recently declared lab-grown chicken as “safe to eat.“