Cellular meat and advancements in vegan processed foods

Cellular meat and advancements in vegan processed foods

Advances in farming technology and intensification of animal agriculture increase the cost-efficiency and production volume of meat. Thus, in developed nations, meat is relatively inexpensive and accessible. While beneficial for consumer satisfaction, intensive meat production inflicts negative externalities on public health, the environment and animal welfare. In response, groups within academia and industry are working to improve the sensory characteristics of plant-based meat and pursuing nascent approaches through cellular agriculture methodology (i.e., cell-based meat). 

CBM (cell-based meat), also referred to as in-vitro meat, lab-grown meat or cultured meat is meat produced by cultivating cells as opposed to farming animals. CBM technology is based on advances in stem cell biology (e.g., induced pluripotent stem cells) and tissue engineering (e.g., in vitro skeletal muscle grafts) originally purposed for medical applications. CBM production involves four central components: (1) muscle and fat cell isolation and culture, (2) xeno-free culture medium formulation, (3) scaffold development, and (4) bioreactor design; the details of which are described extensively elsewhere. Interestingly, the concept of CBM can be traced back to 1930 when Frederick Smith, the British Secretary for India, envisioned the genesis of “self-reproducing steaks” through an excerpt of his essay collection The World in 2030 AD, which reads: “It will no longer be necessary to go to the extravagant length of rearing a bullock in order to eat its steak. From one ‘parent’ steam of choice tenderness, it will be possible to grow as large and as juicy a steak as can be desired.” While CBM has yet to be commercialized in 2020, noteworthy progress has taken place over the past couple of decades. Key milestones include the first CBM patent filed by Willem van Eelen in 1999, the first peer-reviewed research on cultured fish funded by NASA in 2002 and the first cultured beef burger debuted by Maastricht University in 2013. Today, there are dozens of start-up companies around the globe working to bring CBM products to market.

CBM experts indicate that key flavour profiles can be achieved by co-cultures, medium supplementation, and/or genetic modification. For instance, researchers have explored the effects of supplementing CBM with extracellular heme proteins (e.g., myoglobin). Myoglobin is associated with the “bloody” flavour of meat and supplementation was observed to improve the colour of CBM constructs without impeding muscle cell growth rates. Early cell-based prototypes emulate processed meat (e.g., burgers, sausages, nuggets) as it is more difficult to emulate the appearance and texture of whole cuts of meat (e.g., steak). As researchers in the field begin to focus on textural properties, significant effort will be required to evaluate myriad factors (e.g., cell to scaffold ratio, the impact of cooking, packaging, storage, and shipping) on tissue structure. CBM texture can be influenced both by cultured cells and supportive scaffolding materials. In vitro skeletal muscle tissue can be engineered to emulate the structure of meat by employing differentiation and cell alignment strategies. For example, mechanical tension, electrical stimulation, and/or micropatterned substrates can be employed to induce cell alignment in vitro. A recent study focused on CBM composed of bovine cells coupled with a textured soy protein scaffold; finding some of the samples exhibited texture (i.e., ultimate tensile strength) properties similar to those of native bovine muscle. In addition, a sensory panel tasted the CBM samples and described “a pleasant meaty flavour” and “a typical meat bite and texture”.

There are opportunities for plant-based and cell-based hybrid products. Considering the current high-cost hurdles associated with CBM, one approach is to focus on the aspects of PBM that fall short of ABM and determine where CBM can add the most value at the lowest inclusion rate.