OSU to Patent “Vegas Strip Steak”
Oklahoma State University’s (OSU) Robert M. Kerr Food and Agriculture Products Center has reportedly signaled its intention to patent a new kind of steak after unveiling the product at the “Protein Innovation Summit” held April 16-17, 2012, in Chicago, Illinois. According to media sources, OSU researchers have dubbed the cut of beef a “Vegas Strip Steak” and said it derives from a part of the animal previously used for hamburgers. “It’s an un-obvious chunk of meat that has just been sitting there—a little diamond surrounded by a bunch of coal. The patent actually claims the kind of knife strokes that you make in order to create this cut of meat,” explained OSU Associate Vice President for Technology Development Steve Price in a May 23, 2012, NPR interview. “You take this muscle, you make cuts here, here and here and you end up with this Vegas Strip Steak.”
Because it would be difficult to keep this cutting technique as a trade secret, OSU has opted to patent its discovery in an effort to exact licensing fees from meat manufacturers wishing to produce and market the “Vegas Strip Streak.” Ranging between 4 and 14 ounces, the new steak is described on the product’s website as similar in taste and tenderness to a New York Strip or Flat Iron cut. See OSU Press Release, May 8, 2012; Gizmodo, May 15, 2012; Wired.Co.UK, May 23, 2012.
