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Cultivated meat
You may have heard about cultivated meat—genuine meat developed from cells of living animals—and its potential to disrupt the traditional way meats are produced. It may be easy to dismiss cultivated meats as a fad; however, well over $2 billion in venture capital has poured into this emerging technology in just ten years.
Big players, from billionaires like Bill Gates (Microsoft) to Michelin-starred chefs (José Andrés) and celebrities (Leonardo DiCaprio), have thrown their weight and money into it. Some of the world’s largest meat companies, including Tyson, Cargill, and JBS, have also invested in its potential. Although currently only legal to sell in Singapore, there is growing acceptance that this technology is close to realizing full-scale production and may start selling in the United States soon.
So why should consumers care about a product currently unavailable for sale? One big reason is growth in the world population, which is projected to reach about 9.7 billion people by 2050. Since most people are meat eaters, about 90% in the United States and 86% worldwide, population growth will place added pressure on the food supply chain.
Environmental factors also play a big part in the rationale for cultivated meats. Traditional animal farming methods rely on large amounts of fresh water and land resources, adding an estimated 14.5% of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. The Good Food Institute (GFI), a leading advocate for both cultivated meat and vegan meat replacements, claims cultivated meat can reduce emissions by over 90% and use as much as 95% less land and close to 80% less water than conventional beef.
Equally important, cultivated meat eliminates foodborne pathogens such as E. coli and Salmonella, common bacterial problems deriving from animal processing that infect humans and create epidemics and pandemics. In addition to ending these pathogens, lab-grown meat also eliminates the collateral use of antibiotics in livestock farming.
What Is Cultivated Meat?
Various words have been used to describe cultivated meat products, including “lab grown,” “clean meat” or “cultured meat.” “Cultivated meat,” however, is a term the industry seems to lean toward. The idea of using science for meat production took off after Dutch professor Mark Post at the Maastricht University presented the world's first cultivated hamburger in 2013. Its price tag: about $330,000. In the 10 years since then, rapid breakthroughs have lowered the cost considerably, making the product more commercially viable today.
In the process of cultivating meat, according to the GFI, stem cells are taken from biopsies of live animals. Then, they are grown in bioreactors while fed essential nutrients such as amino acids, glucose, and vitamins. The process is estimated to take two to eight weeks, depending on the type of meat—substantially less time than producing traditional farmed beef, which requires one to two years.
Companies in the cultivated meat industry have pilot-tested cultivated meat, poultry, seafood, dairy, and egg products, and are getting ready for full-scale production. Products currently under development range from familiar beef and chicken to exotic offerings like sushi-grade tuna, lobster, and foie gras (fattened duck).
Ground meat products like nuggets or burgers are the simplest to cultivate. For whole meat cuts, a three-dimensional structure, called scaffolding, is layered with cultivated fats and connective tissues, resulting in the desired shape and texture of steaks and fillets. As with conventional 3D printing, the product is printed in a layering process and then matures and grows into something we would recognize as, say, a steak.
Regulatory Hurdles and Meat Industry Pushback
Because cultivated meat is a new technology, regulations must be developed before it can be approved for sale. In the United States, this falls under the jurisdiction of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS). The FDA recently approved the UPSIDE Foods cultivation process for their chicken fillets, a step closer to USDA approval to begin selling in the United States.
The potential of cultivated meat has the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) lobbying against allowing these new products to be labeled as meat. In addition, they have lobbied industry-friendly states, like Missouri, Texas, and Arkansas, to pass laws restricting the use of the term "meat" on cultivated or plant-based meat alternative products.
Interestingly, despite the pushback from cattle ranchers, the biggest meat companies in the world, like Tyson, JBL and Cargill, have all invested substantial financial resources in this technology.
Companies in the Cultivated Meat Industry
Nearly 100 cultivated meat companies exist worldwide. In the United States, many companies are located around San Francisco. One of these, UPSIDE Foods, recently opened a large-scale facility near San Francisco and has created a chicken fillet with the taste and texture of a natural chicken breast. Another Bay-area company, Wildtype Foods, is perfecting a sushi-grade salmon fillet.
Cultivated meat companies may also be found in other parts of the country, including South Carolina, Illinois, and Colorado. Cultured Decadence, a Wisconsin start-up recently acquired by UPSIDE, is developing lobster.
In other parts of the globe, from Europe to South America, Asia, and Australia, many start-ups are working on cultivated meats. Israel is the home of three companies developing 3D-printed steaks. One of these, Steakholder Foods, has fully patented its 3D-bioprinting technique. China is a big player that could significantly impact the industry. Their current five-year agricultural plan includes cultivated meats and vegan meat replacements.
What the Skeptics Say
To be commercially feasible, companies in the cultivated meat space must produce large quantities at affordable prices. Some bioscience experts say cultivated meat will never become mainstream because scale-up technologies and other practical factors, such as production operations, will be too costly. Another argument is that because the meat is grown in labs, it requires a sterile environment. Consequently, a few unfavorable bacteria can spoil whole batches if workers are lax on safety protocols.
Early results of some studies hypothesized that cultivated meat would result in a much smaller carbon footprint. In contrast, other, more recent studies have reported that giant fuel bioreactors for producing cultivated meat will require more energy. Ultimately, much will depend on the type of energy used, and the reality is that we will only know energy usage when production is happening.
The Future of Cultivated Meat
Eventually, consumer acceptance will determine if these products are successful. Surveys suggest that consumers are open to purchasing and eating cultivated meats. Still, many need to be educated about this new product. It is up to the cultivated meat industry to develop marketing strategies to help meat eaters overcome suspicion of anything that sounds artificial.
To ensure customer acceptance, cultivated meat providers must create products that compare to conventional meats in taste and texture. They must also increase production to provide a steady and reliable meat supply. Finally, costs must be reduced to be competitive with traditionally produced meats.
Given the rapid progress and capital pouring into this technology, the odds are that cultivated meat will soon become a reality. From ground meat to whole meat to high-end delicacies like caviar and foie gras, there are many ways for cultivated meat to make its way into the food supply chain. The cultivated meat market share could easily reach billions of dollars with even a small percentage of the $1.4 trillion in annual global meat sales.
