An Israeli company has received the green light from health authorities to sell the world’s first steaks made from cultured beef cells, rather than from a whole animal, the country’s health officials said, writes News.ro.

The move follows last year’s approval of laboratory-grown chickens in the United States. Israeli company Aleph Farms received initial approval from Israel’s Ministry of Health in December, the company said in a statement.

This step was announced on Wednesday evening by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who called the development a “global innovation”.

The firm said it plans to introduce a “small steak” grown for customers in Israel. The beef will be grown from cells obtained from the fertilized egg of a Black Angus cow named Lucy, who lives on a farm in California.

Regulators still have to approve the company’s labels and conduct final inspections, said Yoav Reisler of Aleph Farms. After that, it can take months before the product is delivered to customers.

Aleph Farms joins Upside Foods and Good Meat, two California companies that received the green light to sell cultured chicken in the U.S. in June. More than 150 companies worldwide are pursuing the goal of creating cultured meat, or “cultured from cells,” also known as lab-grown meat.

Proponents say that making meat from cells will significantly reduce the harm done to animals and avoid the environmental impact of conventional meat production. But the industry faces obstacles, including high costs and the challenge of producing enough meat on a large enough scale to make production affordable and profitable.

Cultured meat is grown in large steel tanks using cells from a live animal, a fertilized egg, or a special bank of preserved cells.

The original cells are combined with special nutrients to help them grow into masses or sheets of meat that are formed into common foods such as chops or steak.