Meatballs! That’s what we are going to talk about today. When it comes to meatballs, the first thing that comes to mind would be perhaps chicken meat balls, or those made from beef, pork, or even lamb, served in soup or with a scoop of delectable sauce. 

But how about a giant meatball made from flesh cultivated using the DNA of the extinct woolly mammoth? 

Well, that’s exactly what Australian cultured meat company Vow launched in The Netherlands in late March. It said the meatball was made of sheep cells inserted with a singular mammoth gene called myoglobin. 

According to the company, the gene is responsible for the aroma, colour and the taste. The mammoth meatball by the way has the aroma of crocodile meat, and is currently not for consumption. 

Now, Vow is not the first company that is eyeing the DNA of extinct animals. Biotechnology startup Colossal earlier wanted to de-extinct the Dodo, while others are setting their sights on mammoth proteins. 

Question is - how much money is in it for firms to go the extra mile to look back into the past?

On Under the Radar, Drive Time’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian sat down with George Peppou, Co-Founder, Vow for more.