Alternative Protein Sources – Cultured Meat

Meat consumption has been increasing and is expected to increase even more as greater wealth in developing economies shifts food preferences. The carbon footprint associated with meat production has raised questions about its sustainability, so what are the alternatives?

If you have been following my posts on agricultural innovation, you know that I have been writing about the potential for alternative or non-animal-based protein sources to be better for the planet, for people and for animals.

There are several distinct strategies to achieve the goal of producing protein at scale to offset animal-based protein significantly. In my last articles, I discussed plant-based meat substitutes and fungal fermentation.

Cultured Meat: A New Strategy

An emergent third strategy is the direct cultivation of animal cells that eliminates the need to raise and slaughter farm animals, offering the potential for decreasing the environmental and ethical impacts of animal-based protein production.

This strategy is the most technologically complex with promising, but as yet unproven, potential for the large-scale production of animal protein.

The process of cultured-meat production involves the following:

1. Isolation of stem cells from living or recently slaughtered animals.
2. Differentiation of those cells, usually into muscle cells.
3. Growth of those cells in large bioreactors (basically fermentation tanks).
4. Finally, cell harvest and process to create edible products.

These five steps each present significant challenges in terms of efficiency and cost. Take, for example, the composition of cell-culture media required to support cell proliferation and growth. This medium consists of a pH-controlled solution of sugars, salt, vitamins, amino acids and growth factors or hormones. Growth factors are typically animal-derived components and these present a large economic constraint on cultured-meat production. Their presence also raises an ethical constraint, if you assume that a major benefit of cultured meat is to bypass animal exploitation.

So, what are the benefits of cultured meat?

If cultured meat is produced exclusively with renewable energy, such as solar or wind, lifecycle assessments have suggested that it could reduce greenhouse-gas emissions and land use by approximately 90% compared to conventional beef production.

If this environmental footprint can be substantiated, cultured meat could be seen as an ethical choice for those concerned about climate change and environmental quality.

Current Challenges

However, a major remaining issue today is the cost of cultured-meat production, which has been estimated at USD 63 per kilo. A significant part of this cost is the animal-derived growth factors.

Recently, it has been proposed that these can be substituted with recombinant proteins produced in microbial or plant-based expression systems, greatly reducing their cost.

Teams of researchers have reported the development of a cell-culture medium with a 97% reduction in cost relative to conventional growth media.

So, when will we see cultured-meat products in the marketplace?

Singapore approved a cultured-chicken product in 2020, and it is currently sold in restaurants and markets, so cultured meat is a reality today.

It is estimated that there are 150 companies working to create increasingly efficient cultured-meat production systems and to ultimately produce and sell cultured-meat products. This is probably still some way off, but the investment and technological trajectory is unstoppable – so stay tuned.

TOPIAN is actively seeking collaborations and partnerships to advance in this exciting field. Connect with Arnold Michael Wilkinson to explore the possibilities!