Lab-grown chicken ‘nuggets’ hailed as ‘transformative step’ for cultured meat

Japanese-led team grow 11g chunk of chicken - and say product could be on market in five- to 10 years

Researchers are claiming a breakthrough in lab-grown meat after producing nugget-sized chunks of chicken in a device that mimics the blood vessels that make up the circulatory system.

The approach uses fine hollow fibres to deliver oxygen and nutrients to chicken muscle cells suspended in a gel, an advance that allowed scientists to grow lumps of meat up to 2cm long and 1cm thick.