Cellular Agriculture Research Articles

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Artificial meat shows great promise as a method for use in future food production. It is predicted that traditional meat will be insufficient with the increasing human population. In addition, artificial meat has many advantages in terms of human health, such as being sustainable for the environment, controlled fat content, and absence of antibiotics and hormones compared to traditional meat. Artificial meat, also known as cultured meat, is produced through in vitro myogenesis, which includes muscle tissue-based protein products, stem cell culture, and differentiation, and mature muscle cell processing for flavor and texture. Artificial meat production consists of a sequential process; firstly muscle sampling for stem cell collection and followed by muscle tissue dissociation and muscle stem cell isolation, primary cell culture, high cell culture, and ending with muscle differentiation and maturation. A deep understanding of the process by considering its pros and cons will help not only artificial meat production but also the food industry in business sectors seeking new biomaterials. By explaining the methods utilized for artificial meat production, this study is created to prepare for the new era of cellular agriculture as well as for application in academia and industry.

Cutting-edge tissue engineering strategies for cultured meat

As an emerging cellular agriculture technology, cell cultured meat aims to produce meat from in vitro cell culture instead of conventional livestock slaughtering. Various tissue engineering technologies have been applied for cell cultured meat. In this perspective, we will overview the cutting-edge tissue engineering strategies for cell cultured meat from the classifications of textured scaffolds, 3D bioprinting, molding, patterning, and cell sheet engineering, and introduce the applied materials as well. The future prospects and challenges will be discussed in the end.

Lab-grown coffee and creative colorants

Bioreactor brew People in Finland drink a lot of coffee. Finns consume on average 12 kg of coffee per person per year, while Americans’ average consumption is 4.4 kg each year. But the harsh Finnish climate makes it difficult to grow the beloved beverage close to consumers. Instead, coffee-growing countries like Costa Rica and Kenya export their crop to Finland and the rest of the world. But as environmental changes threaten coffee-growing regions and the global community becomes more concerned with sustainability, new technologies are popping up in places like Finland, where interest is brewing in bioreactor-grown coffee. A research team at VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland began making bioreactor coffee as a test case, not because of their home country’s thirst for the drink. The team found success with other cellular agriculture projects, such as egg white protein, but wanted to work on “a recognizable product everybody can

Ovalbumin production using Trichoderma reesei culture and low-carbon energy could mitigate the environmental impacts of chicken-egg-derived ovalbumin.

Ovalbumin (OVA) produced using the fungus Trichoderma reesei (Tr-OVA) could become a sustainable replacement for chicken egg white protein powder-a widely used ingredient in the food industry. Although the approach can generate OVA at pilot scale, the environmental impacts of industrial-scale production have not been explored. Here, we conducted an anticipatory life cycle assessment using data from a pilot study to compare the impacts of Tr-OVA production with an equivalent functional unit of dried chicken egg white protein produced in Finland, Germany and Poland. Tr-OVA production reduced most agriculture-associated impacts, such as global warming and land use. Increased impacts were mostly related to industrial inputs, such as electricity production, but were also associated with glucose consumption. Switching to low-carbon energy sources could further reduce environmental impact, demonstrating the potential benefits of cellular agriculture over livestock agriculture for OVA production.

How Cellular Agriculture Systems Can Promote Food Security

Cellular agriculture, the manufacturing of animal-sourced foods by cell cultures, may promote food security by providing a food source that is available, accessible, utilized, and stable. The extent to which cellular agriculture can promote food security, however, will depend in part on the supply system by which it produces food. Many cellular agriculture companies appear poised to follow a centralized supply system, in which production is concentrated within a small number of large plants and products are distributed over a wide area. This model benefits from economies of scale, but has several weaknesses to food security. By being built of a handful of plants with products distributed by a large transportation network, the centralized model is vulnerable to closures, as became clear for animal-sourced centralized system during the COVID-19 pandemic. Cellular agriculture systems are being built now; therefore, alternative supply system models of decentralized and distributed systems should be considered as the systems of cellular agriculture production are established. This paper defines both the requirements of food security and three possible supply system models that cellular agriculture could take and evaluates each model based on the requirements of food security.

The transformative innovation potential of cellular agriculture: Political and policy stakeholders’ perceptions of cultured meat in Germany

The current animal-based food systems are being challenged by environmental, social and economic sustainability issues. A systemic transformation from conventional agriculture to a more sustainable cellular agriculture utilising cell-cultivation technologies to produce animal products has been proposed. The aim of this study is to explore the political and policy stakeholders’ perceptions about cellular agriculture; how they perceive of the current food system and its potential transformation into a cellular agricultural system. The qualitative data comprises 13 interviews conducted with representatives of German stakeholders. The data were analysed with the Transformative Innovation Policy approach. Perceptions of the transformative potential of cultured products were classified into drivers and bottlenecks that either advance or hinder the progress of cellular agriculture in Germany. The results show that the political and policy stakeholders are aware of the changes that are needed, but anticipate that large-scale transformation to the cellular agriculture system may not be a plausible solution in the near future.

Immortalizing Cells for Human Consumption.

The need to produce immortal, food-relevant cell lines is one of the most pressing challenges of cellular agriculture, the field which seeks to produce meat and other animal products via tissue engineering and synthetic biology. Immortal cell lines have a long and complicated story, from the first recognized immortal human cell lines taken from Henrietta Lacks, to today, where they are used to assay toxicity and produce therapeutics, to the future, where they could be used to create meat without harming an animal. Although work in immortal cell lines began more than 50 years ago, there are few existing cell lines made of species and cell types appropriate for cultured meat. Cells in cultured meat will be eaten by consumers; therefore, cultured meat cell lines will also require unique attributes not selected for in other cell line applications. Specifically, cultured meat cell lines will need to be approved as safe for consumption as food, proliferate and differentiate efficiently at industrial scales, and have desirable taste, texture, and nutrition characteristics for consumers. This paper defines what cell lines are needed, the existing methods to produce new cell lines and their limitations, and the unique considerations of cell lines used in cultured meat.

Insight on Current Advances in Food Science and Technology for Feeding the World Population

While the world population is steadily increasing, the capacity of Earth to renew its resources is continuously declining. Consequently, the bioresources required for food production are diminishing and new approaches are needed to feed the current and future global population. In the last decades, scientists have developed novel strategies to reduce food loss and waste, improve food production, and find new ingredients, design and build new food structures, and introduce digitalization in the food system. In this work, we provide a general overview on circular economy, alternative technologies for food production such as cellular agriculture, and new sources of ingredients like microalgae, insects, and wood-derived fibers. We present a summary of the whole process of food design using creative problem-solving that fosters food innovation, and digitalization in the food sector such as artificial intelligence, augmented and virtual reality, and blockchain technology. Finally, we briefly discuss the effect of COVID-19 on the food system. This review has been written for a broad audience, covering a wide spectrum and giving insights on the most recent advances in the food science and technology area, presenting examples from both academic and industrial sides, in terms of concepts, technologies, and tools which will possibly help the world to achieve food security in the next 30 years.

Uses of Cellular Agriculture in Plant-Based Meat Analogues for Improved Palatability

Uses of Cellular Agriculture in Plant-Based Meat Analogues for Improved Palatability

Can Cultured Meat Be an Alternative to Farm Animal Production for a Sustainable and Healthier Lifestyle?

Producing animal proteins requires large areas of agricultural land and is a major source of greenhouse gases. Cellular agriculture, especially cultured meat, could be a potential alternative for the environment and human health. It enables meat and other agricultural products to be grown from cells in a bioreactor without being taken from farm animals. This paper aims at an interdisciplinary review of literature focusing on potential benefits and risks associated with cultured meat. To achieve this goal, several international databases and governmental projects were thoroughly analyzed using keywords and phrases with specialty terms. This is a growing scientific domain, which has generated a series of debates regarding its potential effects. On the one hand the potential of beneficial effects is the reduction of agricultural land usage, pollution and the improvement of human health. Other authors question if cultured meat could be a sustainable alternative for reducing gas emissions. Interestingly, the energy used for cultured meat could be higher, due to the replacement of some biological functions, by technological processes. For potential effects to turn into results, a realistic understanding of the technology involved and more experimental studies are required.

Cellular Agriculture for Production of Cell-Based Seafood

This new 4-page article intends to give basic information about the cell-based seafood production system to consumers and seafood producers. Written by Razieh Farzad and published by the UF/IFAS Food Science and Human Nutrition Department.

Democratizing ownership and participation in the 4th Industrial Revolution: challenges and opportunities in cellular agriculture

The emergence of the “4th Industrial Revolution,” i.e. the convergence of artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, advanced materials, and bioengineering technologies, could accelerate socioeconomic insecurities and anxieties or provide beneficial alternatives to the status quo. In the post-Covid-19 era, the entities that are best positioned to capitalize on these innovations are large firms, which use digital platforms and big data to orchestrate vast ecosystems of users and extract market share across industry sectors. Nonetheless, these technologies also have the potential to democratize ownership, broaden political-economic participation, and reduce environmental harms. We articulate the potential sociotechnical pathways in this high-stakes crossroads by analyzing cellular agriculture, an exemplary 4th Industrial Revolution technology that synergizes computer science, biopharma, tissue engineering, and food science to grow cultured meat, dairy, and egg products from cultured cells and/or genetically modified yeast. Our exploration of this space involved multi-sited ethnographic research in both (a) the cellular agriculture community and (b) alternative economic organizations devoted to open source licensing, member-owned cooperatives, social financing, and platform business models. Upon discussing how these latter approaches could potentially facilitate alternative sociotechnical pathways in cellular agriculture, we reflect upon the broader implications of this work with respect to the 4th Industrial Revolution and the enduring need for public policy reform.

A review on lab-grown meat: Advantages and disadvantages

Meat is an important protein source for humans obtained from slaughtering a living animal. Rearing an animal requires land, water, and other resources, which is challenging to feed the growing population in the world. Therefore, lab-grown meat is one of the optional replacements for farmed animal meat production. Tissue engineering-based cellular agriculture is adopted for production, where bioreactors are used for the cellular harvest. Ample beneficial aspects bring cultured meat to the frontline in the food industry. Cell-based meats are environment friendly in the context of greenhouse gas production, less prone to contamination of infectious pathogens compared with livestock animals. The nutritional content of cultured meat can be regulated, which made it unique. There are disadvantageous aspects too. Cell-based meat is expected to consume higher energy and produce more carbon dioxide than potent methane, impacting the environment. There are ethical questions and religious issues raised by the communities to use Bovine foetal blood as a cultured ingredient. Effects of growth factors are required to observe the long-term effect on humans. Lab-grown meat may be a game-changer for the growing demand for meat. Still, several challenges such as financial, environmental, cultural, and health-related effects need to be considered before large-scale production.

Cell Sources for Cultivated Meat: Applications and Considerations throughout the Production Workflow.

Cellular agriculture is an emerging scientific discipline that leverages the existing principles behind stem cell biology, tissue engineering, and animal sciences to create agricultural products from cells in vitro. Cultivated meat, also known as clean meat or cultured meat, is a prominent subfield of cellular agriculture that possesses promising potential to alleviate the negative externalities associated with conventional meat production by producing meat in vitro instead of from slaughter. A core consideration when producing cultivated meat is cell sourcing. Specifically, developing livestock cell sources that possess the necessary proliferative capacity and differentiation potential for cultivated meat production is a key technical component that must be optimized to enable scale-up for commercial production of cultivated meat. There are several possible approaches to develop cell sources for cultivated meat production, each possessing certain advantages and disadvantages. This review will discuss the current cell sources used for cultivated meat production and remaining challenges that need to be overcome to achieve scale-up of cultivated meat for commercial production. We will also discuss cell-focused considerations in other components of the cultivated meat production workflow, namely, culture medium composition, bioreactor expansion, and biomaterial tissue scaffolding.

In-vitro meat: a promising solution for sustainability of meat sector.

The in-vitro meat is a novel concept in food biotechnology comprising field of tissue engineering and cellular agriculture. It involves production of edible biomass by in-vitro culture of stem cells harvested from the muscle of live animals by self-organizing or scaffolding methodology. It is considered as efficient, environmental friendly, better ensuring public safety and nutritional security, as well as ethical way of producing meat. Source of stem cells, media ingredients, supply of large size bioreactors, skilled manpower, sanitary requirements, production of products with similar sensory and textural attributes as of conventional meat, consumer acceptance, and proper set up of regulatory framework are challenges faced in commercialization and consumer acceptance of in-vitro meat. To realize any perceivable change in various socio-economic and environmental spheres, the technology should be commercialized and should be cost-effective as conventional meat and widely accepted among consumers. The new challenges of increasing demand of meat with the increasing population could be fulfill by the establishment of in-vitro meat production at large scale and its popularization. The adoption of in-vitro meat production at an industrial scale will lead to self-sufficiency in the developed world.

Technical requirements for cultured meat production: a review.

Environment, food, and disease have a selective force on the present and future as well as our genome. Adaptation of livestock and the environmental nexus, including forest encroachment for anthropological needs, has been proven to cause emerging infectious diseases. Further, these demand changes in meat production and market systems. Meat is a reliable source of protein, with a majority of the world population consumes meat. To meet the increasing demands of meat production as well as address issues, such as current environmental pollution, animal welfare, and outbreaks, cellular agriculture has emerged as one of the next industrial revolutions. Lab grown meat or cell cultured meat is a promising way to pursue this; however, it still needs to resemble traditional meat and be assured safety for human consumption. Further, to mimic the palatability of traditional meat, the process of cultured meat production starts from skeletal muscle progenitor cells isolated from animals that proliferate and differentiate into skeletal muscle using cell culture techniques. Due to several lacunae in the current approaches, production of muscle replicas is not possible yet. Our review shows that constant research in this field will resolve the existing constraints and enable successful cultured meat production in the near future. Therefore, production of cultured meat is a better solution that looks after environmental issues, spread of outbreaks, antibiotic resistance through the zoonotic spread, food and economic crises.

From Livestock to Cell-stock

The nascent cellular agriculture industry seeks to produce cell-cultured animal tissue for human consumption. Effectively rendering farmed animals obsolete in food production could mitigate an array of harms inflicted by industrial animal farming on the environment, public health, and human and animal wellbeing, but achieving this outcome is contingent on cellular agriculture entrepreneurs successfully creating a product that closely resembles conventional meat enough to appeal to consumers despite its synthetic origins. This article examines how these politics of resemblance may shape and limit the realization of the industry’s potential benefits. Specifically, it argues that, while cellular agriculture can only realize such benefits through the facilitation of agricultural animal obsolescence, its potential for positive transformations in food production may ultimately be blunted by the degree to which a failure to extend the politics of resemblance from the consumer market to the labor market renders agricultural human laborers obsolete as well.

Dis/connection Matters: Natural, Synthetic, and Digital

The world is experiencing new relations and transformations between natural, synthetic, and digital substances. Rather than considering these as materially distinct or ontologically separate, this Special Issue of TSANTSA interrogates how they are interlocked in socio-material processes of mediation, transmutation, and valuation. By conceptualizing the specificity of their separateness, the special issue makes possible the comparison and commensuration of their relationship, and to move beyond their essential qualities. What are the boundaries, leakages, or dis/connections between human and digital, natural and artificial, the organic and synthetic matters? Based on ethnographic research in laboratories, gold refineries, bio-tech microbial seeds and digitally-produced natural sounds, human-machine apps and cellular agriculture, each contribution theorizes the mediation, transmutation, and valuation of natural synthetics, the humanness of artificial intelligence, or the materiality of digital elements.

Invited review on ‘maize in the 21st century’ Emerging trends of maize biorefineries in the 21st century: scientific and technological advancements in biofuel and bio-sustainable market

The United States is the largest global bioethanol producer and maize is the leading crop contributing towards it. Improvement in maize quality and yeast strains have enhanced ethanol production to a great extent. The high-titer ethanol production from maize biorefineries has enabled the maize biorefineries to meet the government set blending limits, which plateaued the demand for ethanol in the United States. On the other hand, growing industrial biotechnology with an emphasis on sustainability has accelerated demand for bio-based products. Therefore, the focus of maize biorefineries is now shifting on branching out the application of maize towards the bio-based markets. Recent scientific and technological advancements in the field of cellular agriculture, polymer development, and process engineering have diversified the usage of maize and inexpensive coproducts of maize biorefineries. The abundant fermentable sugars, vegetable oil, fiber, germ, and coproducts of maize fermentation have become the new platform compounds to produce next-generation high-value bio-based polymers, bulk and specialty chemicals along with biofuels and food. To meet this growing new demand, traditional maize biorefineries are evolving and positioning themselves in bio-based sustainable market sectors. This review analyzes the recent advancements in science and technologies leading to the emerging trends of maize biorefineries.

Bioengineering, telecoupling, and alternative dairy: Agricultural land use futures in the Anthropocene

AbstractThe global environmental impact of rising consumption of animal products presents significant challenges to sustainable land use. One alternative to the production of animal products is a set of technologies for culturing meat and dairy alternatives referred to as “cellular agriculture”; in the case of dairy, “cellular dairy”. Optimism around the benefits of these technologies is widespread, and they fit within a larger narrative of land sparing, in which high‐yield farming allows the protection of habitats and the return of fallow land to ecological uses. However, questions remain as to whether cellular dairy is truly land sparing because although lab dairy could offer significant ecological benefits, these could be countered by increases in agricultural activity in other regions for the production of feedstocks. In addition, considerations around broader impacts to individuals, communities, and the environment are needed to understand whether/how cellular dairy aligns or conflicts with local, regional, and global sustainability goals. This paper employs the concept of telecoupling, which refers to socioeconomic and environmental interactions over distances, to examine the potential cellular dairy may have for contributing to sustainable food production and consumption. The research uses British Columba, Canada as a case study, and it explores three policy scenarios: (1) incentives for the growth of a cellular dairy industry, (2) cellular dairy incentivization with eco‐certification, and (3) cellular dairy incentivization with local sourcing of feedstock. The work is exploratory rather than predictive, meaning rather than forecasting outcomes, it stimulates ideas on potential direct and indirect impacts, feedback processes, and social and institutional changes associated with each scenario. The research demonstrates that exploring scenarios through a telecoupling lens can be useful for policy‐makers and analysts because it facilitates comprehensive and multi‐scalar thinking on the ecological, social, economic, and political factors associated with different policy options.