When many people think about cultivated meat, they may imagine steaks, burgers, or fillets.

But as technical and price barriers mean there’s still a long way to go before these end products become a reality on a large scale, startups and researchers are increasingly exploring how to accelerate cultivated meat’s journey to supermarkets as an ingredient in otherwise plant and fermentation-based products. 

The Netherlands’ Mosa Meat, the UK’s Hoxton Farms and Germany’s Cultimate are among the companies developing cultivated fat, which could bring the flavour and mouthfeel of conventional meat to existing plant-based products.

Bringing home the bacon

A team at the University of Edinburgh has developed a new cell line – one of the building blocks of cultivated meat – which they believe could transform the flavour of plant-based pork products.

Their discovery, published in Nature Science of Food, is a cell line that reproduces quickly, generating fat tissue closely resembling that of pork but with slightly higher levels of beneficial monounsaturated fats – a potential advantage for health-conscious consumers.

Lead researcher Dr Tom Thrower, who works in Professor Xavier Donadeu’s laboratory at the university’s Roslin Institute said that, unlike other scientists who set out to solve the problems presented by cultivated meat, his project initially had nothing to do with alternative proteins. But when he saw the cell line’s potential, including its efficiency and ability to turn into fat, its application became immediately obvious. 

Tom said that while the cell line’s greatest use would be developing cultivated meat, he is convinced that using cultivated fat as an ingredient in hybrid products is the right approach to bring products to market more quickly. He also believes that the cell line’s non-GMO status could allow for simpler regulation in regions such as the EU.

“Fat is simpler to work with compared to muscle, and it’s so important in taste as well as nutrition,” he said. “If you’ve ever eaten plant-based bacon, you’ll know there’s room for improved flavours!”

He added that the development of ‘intermediate products’ that add small amounts of animal cells to existing plant-based foods could play an important role in introducing cultivated meat to consumers.

Getting consumers onboard 

This view was echoed by Professor Jette Young of Denmark’s Aarhus University, who published an article in the International Journal of Food Science exploring whether cultivated meat’s path to market could be as a hybrid product.

“By balancing cultivated and plant-based food, we might be able to get more consumers onboard,” she said, stressing that the approach could be particularly attractive to meat eaters who are concerned about the nutritional impact of removing animal foods from their diets.  

Jette, who studied food science before working in human nutrition and meat science, believes there needs to be far more research into the development of hybrid products, including closer cooperation with food technologists.

“Taste and nutrition are important,” she said. “But if we don’t get the food technology right, we’ve had it. You need to think about how people will use these foods at home – if they don’t work as people expect them to, consumers will try them once and walk away.”

She adds that, for hybrids to be truly successful, cultivated meat and plant-based companies need to collaborate to understand how the flavour profiles and functionality of cultivated ingredients will work when combined with different plant-based products.

Meat meets mushroom

Professor J Philipp Benz and his team at the Technical University of Munich are working on a different approach – developing edible fungal-based scaffolds he calls ‘a parking garage for animal cells’. These scaffolds provide structure for cultivated meat products, helping recreate the complex fibrous texture seen in conventionally produced meat.

He had been exploring the use of mycelium – fungi’s complex and rapidly growing root-like network – to develop sustainable products such as packaging, until a conversation with the university’s Professor of Cellular Agriculture Marius Henkel persuaded him of another application.

“Being on a campus with a strong food focus led me to conversations around cultivated meat,” he said. “One of the big challenges is that cells adhere to flat surfaces, but to make cultivated meat, you need them to grow in 3D.”

Fellow researcher Yasmina Harsy adds: “Normally, cells are very finicky about their environment. You have to be really careful with them, but we found they would be happy with fungal mycelium as a growth surface.”

While the project is at an early stage, Philipp believes their decision to focus on fungi such as the oyster mushroom – already well known to be safe and tasty to eat – may have advantages.

“People’s acceptance could be higher if it’s based on something they’re already familiar with,” he said. “Fungi have good nutritional value and are compatible with meat, so bringing the two things together makes a lot of sense.”

Fellow researcher Felix Bachmann highlighted another benefit – growing fungi is a lot easier than growing animal cells.

“We could bring prices down a lot if we could provide a large part of the content with mycelium or plant-based foods,” he said.

Overcoming technical challenges

Despite rapid advances over the last decade, the science of cultivated meat remains in its infancy, and a growing number of researchers are working to overcome the technical bottlenecks that still block the commercialisation of products made entirely of cultivated animal cells.

In the meantime, approaches such as these could give European diners their first taste of this game-changing food more quickly.

Combining just a dash of cultivated meat with plant-based and fermentation-made foods could increase the adoption of these sustainable products, helping to boost food security, provide healthier diets for millions and create future-proof jobs.

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