Aleph Farms' lab-grown steak, which costs $50 for a small portion.

(Aleph Farms)

At a Glance

The first lab-grown steak created from cells was recently produced in Israel.The steak costs $50 for a small portion.Recent studies found a cutback in meat consumption is greatly needed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The first lab-grown steak created from cells and not a slaughtered cow was recently produced, marking the first step in reducing the environmental impact of meat.

While the steak is still being developed and perfected, Aleph Farms' meat is the first to be grown in a lab that has the same muscle-like consistency as livestock meat.

"It’s close and it tastes good, but we have a bit more work to make sure the taste is ," Didier Toubia, the company's executive and co-founder, told the Guardian. "But when you cook it, you really can smell the same smell of meat cooking."

(MORE: Beavers Controversially Culled After Excess Rain, Dams Cause Dangerous Flooding)

The sample steak costs about $50 for a small portion, which might sound high to some, but is a fraction of the , according to the journal Science.

Recent studies found that vast reductions in meat-eating is needed to avoid severely damaging the environment, including a 90 percent decrease in meat consumption , a report in the journal Nature said.

"A vegan diet is probably the single biggest way to reduce your impact on planet Earth, not just greenhouse gases, but global acidification, eutrophication, land use ," Joseph Poore, lead researcher of an environmental impact study, previously told the Guardian. "It is far bigger than cutting down on your flights or buying an electric car."

Engineers are also looking to address the size of the steak, which was about a fifth of an inch thick.

Toubia, who believes the lab-grown meat will need at least another three to four years before it's ready for commercial sale, said Aleph Farms isn't aiming to rival the established meat market.

"The main issue today is with intensive, factory farming facilities, which are very inefficient and very polluting and have lost the relationship to the animal," Toubia said.

About 56 million cows, lamb and poultry are killed every year globally, and that number is expected to , according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

"This is not sustainable in the long term and we must find a way ," Toubia told the Times of Israel.