The meatball was made of sheep cells inserted with a singular mammoth gene called myoglobin.

"When it comes to meat, myoglobin is responsible for the aroma, the colour and the taste", James Ryall, Vow's Chief Scientific Officer explained.

Since the mammoth's DNA sequence obtained by Vow had a few gaps, African elephant DNA was inserted to complete it.

"Much like they do in the movie Jurassic Park", Ryall said, stressing the biggest difference is that they were not creating actual animals.

While creating cultured meat usually means using blood of a dead calf, Vow used an alternative, meaning no animals were killed in the making of the mammoth meatball.

The meatball, which has the aroma of crocodile meat, is currently not for consumption.

"Its protein is literally 4,000 years old. We haven't seen it in a very long time. That means we want to put it through rigorous tests, something that we would do with any product we bring to the market," Noakesmith said.

Vow hopes to put cultured meat on the map in the European Union, a market where such meat as food is not regulated yet.