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STORY: This meatball is made using mammoth DNA

Vow, the company that made it, says

this is not an April Fools' joke

[LOCATION: AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS]

It has mammoth genes that are

4,000 years old

[JAMES RYALL, CHIEF SCIENTIFIC OFFICER, VOW]

"We inserted the gene from the mammoth

into these sheep cells and then over-expressed

that gene really, really highly.

So all that means is that we could detect

the amount of traditional sheep myoglobin

inside the cells and we could detect over 100 times

more mammoth myoglobin in those cells themselves,

so quite a significant portion of what you can see here

in front of you today comes from mammoth."

The mammoth DNA had gaps completed

with African elephant material

Vow wants to get people talking about

'cultured' meat like this

Cultured meat as a food is not regulated

in the EU, which Vow wants to change

They say lab-grown protein is a sustainable

alternative to real meat

[TIM NOAKESMITH, FOUNDER OF VOW]

"We wanted to create something that was

totally different from anything you can get now.

The second reason is that the mammoth

has traditionally been a symbol of loss.

Mammoths we know now were wiped out

because of climate change and we wanted

to draw attention to a different future,

something more exciting, something

where we can eat our way out of extinction."

Vow says the ball must go through rigorous tests

before they say it's okay to eat