technology cell-culturedmeatfortoday’sfuture

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Meeting the world’s protein needs, large-scale production methods, small-scale farming, and cell-based meat and poultry production meth- ods will all play and important role. Cell-based meat products are meat produced from animal cells in cell culture. They are an “and”, not an “or” solution, and the latest in a long history of innovation in further optimizing agriculture. Recognizing a shared desire to support innova- tion and feed the world, moving forward it is proposed to use the term “cell-based meat and poultry” to describe the products that are the result of animal cell culture. By Henk Hoogenkamp T he environmental challenges facing the global agricultural industry are increasing. Traditional animal agriculture has really reached capacity, and new technolo- gies such as cultured meat are needed to lower environmental impact. As meat demand soars, rainforest gets destroyed to grow animal feed, and fresh-water sources are diverted from drought-prone regions. Alternative and smarter ways to produce food and meat to be included into the daily diet will alleviate some of these pressures. Human civilization was largely enabled by the domestication of livestock animals. In the future, cellular biotechnology is going to be the second domestication. Not only to produce huge quantities of cellu- lar or clean meat, but also everything from grow- ing leather, silk, perfumes, vaccines and organs. Challenges The colossal global meat industry – in 2019 estimated at $95 bn. per year – is increasingly facing multiple challenges ranging from interrelated ethical, environmental and business concerns. Looking in the years ahead, the current traditional meat farming and meat processing indus- try can be simplified dramatically by moving into a “meatless” ecosystem, meaning alternative protein sources such as cultured meat and plant- based meat and milk beverage alternatives. In the future, the words “meat” and “animal” will be decoupled. Meat without animals is the new notion of cellular biotechnology using stem cells and bioreactors as the basic platform to “brew” healthy and nutritious cell-cultured meat. Making meat without the animals is rapidly emerging new concept. The ultimate goal is to remove the ani- mal from the meat production. It is time that the world moves past needing to kill animals and ruin the environment for food. Cell-based meat should not be confused with meat substitutes such as “soy burg- ers”, since it is real animal meat: it has the same taste, texture, and the same or better nutritional content as conventionally-produced meat. In basic terms By relying less on an inefficient traditional meat protein-delivery Meat minus slaughter Meat minus slaughter equals meat without animals. The “next-gen meat” will be produced with no traditional animal agriculture, no animal raising or slaughter. Clean meat is produced using cell cultures and these “slaughter-free” cells are cultured to become the constituent parts like mycocytes (= muscle), chrondrocytes (= connective tissue), and adipocytes (= fat). All these components are assembled and will ultimately provide the structural integrity of the product. Cell-cultured meat is a significant and huge technological leap for humanity, as well as an incredible business opportunity to transition a global legacy industry while solving some of the most urgent sustainabil- ity issues of our time, with signifi- cant reduction of greenhouse gases and feed-to-meat conversion ineffi- ciencies. It is the new way forward to feed the world. Cellular agriculture The finite amount of agricultural land and the availability of clean water combined with resource depletion will force government policy makers to rebalance diets towards more plant-based foods. In other words, they will accept the need to reduce the consumption of foods with a higher environmental impact like slaughtered animals for meat consumption and using dairy cows for milk production, while increasing lower-impact foods like cultured cellular meat to enrich the diet with plant proteins derived from cereal grains, legumes, potatoes, vegetables, and fruits. Considering cellular agriculture, like the emerging system, people should instead utilize the nutritive value of the world's five major commodity crops – rice, corn, wheat, soy, and potatoes – as well as embrace cellular agricul- ture which can be further explored for the production of meat and animal-free dairy that could funda- mentally reshape our food supply. Cell-grown meat is created from an animal’s genetic code, and repli- cating itself continuously in an incubator. Cell-based meat is cul- tured from animal cells grown outside the animal without the need for slaughter. Put simply, the process of cultivating cell-based or cultured meat involves feeding the cells the correct nutrients to produce muscle and fat, as it would ordinar- ily happen where they grow inside the animal’s body. Basically, the starter cells are replicated using a protein medium that stimulates growth inside a bioreactor, producing a mature muscle tissue that will actually respond – as in flex, or spasm – when stimulated with electricity. The major hurdles to cross are both in terms of the core science of growing meat, and developing a manufacturing process that will enable “cell based meat farms” to scale and at a cost that can compete with animal-reared meat. Also of importance is resonating with consumers about its name, quality and organoleptic performance. Cell-cultured meat for today’s future In the future, cellular biotechnology is going to be the second domestication In the future, the words “meat” and “animal” will be decoupled. Photo: Dalco Foods 38 Fleischwirtschaft international 6_2018 Technology

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Meeting the world’s protein needs,large-scale production methods,small-scale farming, and cell-basedmeat and poultry production meth-ods will all play and important role.Cell-based meat products are meatproduced from animal cells in cellculture. They are an “and”, not an“or” solution, and the latest in a longhistory of innovation in furtheroptimizing agriculture. Recognizinga shared desire to support innova-tion and feed the world, movingforward it is proposed to use theterm “cell-based meat and poultry”to describe the products that are theresult of animal cell culture.

By Henk Hoogenkamp

The environmental challengesfacing the global agricultural

industry are increasing. Traditionalanimal agriculture has reallyreached capacity, and new technolo-gies such as cultured meat areneeded to lower environmentalimpact. As meat demand soars,rainforest gets destroyed to growanimal feed, and fresh-water sourcesare diverted from drought-proneregions. Alternative and smarterways to produce food and meat to beincluded into the daily diet willalleviate some of these pressures.Human civilization was largelyenabled by the domestication oflivestock animals. In the future,cellular biotechnology is going to bethe second domestication. Not onlyto produce huge quantities of cellu-lar or clean meat, but alsoeverything from grow-ing leather, silk,perfumes,vaccines andorgans.

ChallengesThe colossal global meat industry –in 2019 estimated at $95 bn. per year– is increasingly facing multiplechallenges ranging from interrelatedethical, environmental and businessconcerns. Looking in the yearsahead, the current traditional meatfarming and meat processing indus-try can be simplified dramatically bymoving into a “meatless” ecosystem,meaning alternative protein sourcessuch as cultured meat and plant-based meat and milk beveragealternatives.

In the future, the words “meat”and “animal” will be decoupled.Meat without animals is the newnotion of cellular biotechnologyusing stem cells and bioreactors asthe basic platform to “brew” healthyand nutritious cell-cultured meat.Making meat without the animals israpidly emerging new concept. Theultimate goal is to remove the ani-mal from the meat production. It istime that the world moves pastneeding to kill animals and ruin theenvironment for food. Cell-basedmeat should not be confused withmeat substitutes such as “soy burg-ers”, since it is real animal meat: ithas the same taste, texture, and thesame or better nutritional content asconventionally-produced meat.

In basic termsBy relying less on an inefficienttraditional meat protein-delivery

Meat minus slaughterMeat minus slaughter equals meatwithout animals. The “next-genmeat” will be produced with notraditional animal agriculture, noanimal raising or slaughter. Cleanmeat is produced using cell culturesand these “slaughter-free” cells arecultured to become the constituentparts like mycocytes (= muscle),chrondrocytes (= connective tissue),and adipocytes (= fat). All thesecomponents are assembled and willultimately provide the structuralintegrity of the product.

Cell-cultured meat is a significantand huge technological leap forhumanity, as well as an incrediblebusiness opportunity to transition aglobal legacy industry while solvingsome of the most urgent sustainabil-ity issues of our time, with signifi-cant reduction of greenhouse gasesand feed-to-meat conversion ineffi-ciencies. It is the new way forward tofeed the world.

Cellular agricultureThe finite amount of agriculturalland and the availability of cleanwater combined with resourcedepletion will force governmentpolicy makers to rebalance dietstowards more plant-based foods. Inother words, they will accept theneed to reduce the consumption offoods with a higher environmentalimpact like slaughtered animals formeat consumption and using dairycows for milk production, whileincreasing lower-impact foods likecultured cellular meat to enrich the

diet with plant proteins derivedfrom cereal grains, legumes,

potatoes, vegetables, andfruits. Considering

cellular agriculture,like the emerging

system, people should insteadutilize the nutritive value of theworld's five major commodity crops– rice, corn, wheat, soy, and potatoes– as well as embrace cellular agricul-ture which can be further exploredfor the production of meat andanimal-free dairy that could funda-mentally reshape our food supply.

Cell-grown meat is created froman animal’s genetic code, and repli-cating itself continuously in anincubator. Cell-based meat is cul-tured from animal cells grownoutside the animal without the needfor slaughter. Put simply, theprocess of cultivating cell-based orcultured meat involves feeding thecells the correct nutrients to producemuscle and fat, as it would ordinar-ily happen where they grow insidethe animal’s body.

Basically, the starter cells arereplicated using a protein mediumthat stimulates growth inside abioreactor, producing a maturemuscle tissue that will actuallyrespond – as in flex, or spasm –when stimulated with electricity.The major hurdles to cross are bothin terms of the core science ofgrowing meat, and developing amanufacturing process that willenable “cell based meat farms” toscale and at a cost that can competewith animal-reared meat. Also ofimportance is resonating withconsumers about its name, qualityand organoleptic performance.

Cell-cultured meat for today’s futureIn the future, cellular biotechnology is going to be the second domestication

In the future, the words“meat” and “animal”will be decoupled.Photo: Dalco Foods

38 Fleischwirtschaft international 6_2018

Technology

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Fleischwirtschaft international 6_2018 41

Cell-cultured meat for today’s future Technology

animal protein sources is vital tocreate cultured meat, natural cul-tured dairy foods, insects and otherpost-animal biotechnology andbioeconomy developments to boostfood security and affordability.

Riding the revolution(Partly) replacing or reducingtraditionally-killed animals for meatsupply with cell-cultured meat cansignificantly reduce land, water, andcrops needed to feed animals, whilebenefiting people's health andreducing outbreaks of diseases. Forthe next generation, sustainabilityof food security will be a majorchallenge.

When exponential technologiesstride forward, consumers have thetendency to become suspicious. Thequestion is, if consumers will em-brace cellular bioengineered foodslike animal-free milk supplantingtraditional cow’s milk. This questionis difficult to answer, but the factremains that the world population isgrowing at unprecedented pace andinnovation will be the essential keyto provide every citizen great tastinghealthy foods now and in the future.

Stem cell scienceCultured meat directly originatedfrom cell and gene therapy, a sciencethat is increasingly used in the fieldof regenerative medicine. Culturedmeat is meat grown from animalcell in culture and the first step is tomake it grow in a cell proliferationbioreactor where a nutrient solutionor medium allows the cells toquickly grow and multiply. Theisolated animal cells regenerate withexternal support like oxygen andnutrient-rich broth that enables thecells to grow and multiply. Thisprocess is followed by scaffolding,which actually provides a supportstructure for cellular adherence, anddevelops – if needed – into thevarious component cells of theintegral meat composition.

Stem cells are undifferentiatedcells that can become different typesof tissue as they mature (and canform healthy new muscle to replacewhat has been lost). The muscle-forming cells will join together inlong chains and become multicellu-lar myotubes. Since these myotubesare living tissues, at some point theywill start spontaneously contracting.

Scaffolding is an essential part ofthe cultured meat process because itprovides heterogeneity structuresthat influence variables like texture.

At this point, variables come intoplay so it might best to use plant fatrich in mono- and polyunsaturatedfatty acids, although cultured animalfat is also an option. Looking furtherinto the future also increased levelsof Ω-3 and -6 or a different vitamin/mineral profile can be added tofurther optimize the product.

Animal cell-based foodsThe production of conventionalmeat in these modern times is farfrom natural. “Consumption ani-mals” are routinely given antibioticsand hormones so that they growmuch faster and larger than theywould in nature. Unsanitary out-grow farming and slaughteringconditions may increase the risk ofcontamination from feces, as well asother bacteria and viruses.

Cell-based meat avoids all of thoseissues; hence, it has many benefitsfor human health and many envi-ronmental advantages, includingno-animal-to-food conversion aswell as huge savings on clean water.Compared to conventional animals,there are fewer concerns regardingthe environment, animal welfare,and human health.

Animal agriculture is the largestsingle source of greenhouse gasemissions globally. These emissionswill only grow further now thatdeveloping countries are rapidlyincreasing meat consumption forwhich billions of additional slaugh-

ter animals are needed annually.Another point of concern is theincreasing frequency of humanhealth concerns associated withmeat consumption and its supplyindustry. Some risks need to beconsidered like antibiotic resistance,disease and viral outbreaks, as wellas microbial food contamination,which can be managed by reductionor elimination.

Most meat is contaminated dur-ing the slaughter process, andcultured meat eliminates that risk.This advantage of cultured meatcomes on top of the sustainability –and animal welfare issues. Govern-mental agencies need to adapt tonew reality and – for example – theUSDA mission should be to imple-ment new proactive policies toreduce pathogens in animal prod-ucts and as such to minimize con-sumer exposure to unsafe foods.

Ultimately, cell-cultured meat willbe promoted for its compellingsafety advantages, such as beingantibiotic-free and pathogen-free.Despite the current FDA restric-tions, banning the use of antibioticssolely to accelerate animal growth,still 70 to 80% of US antibiotic salesgo to livestock. According to theCenters for Disease Control andPrevention (CDC), increased antibi-otic resistance causes about 23,000American deaths a year and a$34bn. in financial losses annually.But it doesn’t stop there: the CDC

also estimates that every year morethan 400,000 American residentsbecome ill with infections caused byantibiotic-resistant food-bornebacteria.

Partnership in labeling ?As food technology advances, it willbe necessary how to inspect andregulate in order to ensure foodsafety and labeling, regardless of theproduction method. Global andcountry-specific regulations formany cellular biotechnology prod-ucts, including cultured meat, arestill in the early stages of debate andimplementation. Looking in a crys-tal ball, perhaps an animal-freeecosystem that extends across multi-ple disciplines and one agency orauthority should handle regulatoryoverlaps.

It is still unclear if regulators willhandle cell-cultured meat with thesame rules as traditionally slaugh-tered meat. One of the issues in theUS that still need to be solved is theregulatory standards and defini-tions. For the US, this means thatthe Food and Drug Administration(FDA) and not the United StatesDepartment of Agriculture (USDA)will likely be given the authority todecide on issues like standards andlabeling since no life animals areinvolved. The FDA statement re-leased 15 June, 2018, said: “Sub-stances used in cultured food prod-ucts used in the manufacture of

No-animal-to-food conversion will allow huge savings on clean water. Photo: New Harvest Ministries International

42 Fleischwirtschaft international 6_2018

Technology Cell-cultured meat for today’s future

these products of animal cell culturetechnology and the products them-selves that will be used for food arethe subject to the FDA jurisdiction.”

US “meat farmers” have called forfederal officials to establish a cleardefinition that will inform con-sumers about the difference be-tween meat products that comefrom livestock and alternative meatproteins that are created as animalcell culture in bioreactors. It iscritical that a clear standard ofidentity for livestock meat and itsrelated products is implementedconsistently in order to avoid con-sumer confusion purchasing animalcell-cultured products.

The verdict is still out yet. For theUS it is suggested that the FDAshould have oversight over pre-market safety evaluations for cell-cultured meat and poultry prod-ucts, with the USDA providinginput to FDA as part of thisprocess. Collaboration between theFDA and USDA will be necessaryto accept a new definition of meatproduced from animal cells.

Ready to rollThis question is paramount: “Howto overcome the challenges in reduc-ing the costs of cell-based meatproducts?” There is still a longjourney from research to the plate.But analog to the flat-screen TVs,once industrial momentum picks upsteam, cell-based meat prices willcome down considerably and areforecasted to be on par or better thantraditional livestock origin meatproducts.

The current economics of cell-cultured meat is a long way fromcompeting with the current intense-harvests of animals. However,going forward, it is expected thatcultured meat can be cost-competi-tive with conventional raised meat.All signs are clear that the firstbioreactors for commercially soldcell-based cultured meat in smallquantities to – for example, sales ofMemphis Meat products to selectedrestaurants – will be ready some-time in 2020 or slightly thereafter.The US Company Just might followsoon thereafter. The introduction of

cell-cultured meat for mass con-sumer introduction at retail level isprobably sometime 2028.

Even though clean meat is someyears away from large commercialintroduction, it is likely that culturedmeat will eventually be cheaper thanranch-grown meat. Looking in thefuture, it is not unthinkable thattraditional cattle ranchers will go outof business because of competitionfrom meat grown via cell culture.Traditional ranchers might arrive ina disadvantageous position becauseof the outgrow cycle of beef andeverything else that is associatedwith bringing traditional meat to thetable.

The world’s overreliance onfactory-raised livestock to feed theburgeoning demand for protein willbe ecologically and environmentallydifficult to sustain. Add to that themisery of highly intensively indus-trial meat production often associ-ated with the use of chemical fertil-izer, hormones, antibiotics, energy,land and water required to keep theoutgrow cycle of animals at pace for

an early arrival at the slaughter-house.

The hurdles to takeThe road to successful large-scaleindustrial cultured meat is still quitelong. However, looking at the largepressure on natural resources in thecoming decades, the world has noother choice but to embrace thisnew biotechnology, which canbecome an integral strategy as partof combining it with plant meatformulated products. The tandem orhybrid of an integrated animal-freecultured meat and plant proteinderived diet is probably the mostlogic way forward.

For example, Memphis Meat, SanLeandro, Silicon Valley Californiadebuted in March 2017 the world’sfirst chicken strip from animal cells,following the animal-free meatballintroduction in 2016. In a nutshell:using animal cells, and infusinggrow cultures ultimately transitionsin a few weeks to nutritious food tomake the cells grow into muscle.This whole process from start tofinish takes about four to six weeks,depending on the organolepticparameters. Memphis Meat hassuccessfully created cultured beef,chicken- and duck meat. Duck meatmight sound weird at first, but it ispopular in China, which consumesmore of it than the rest of the worldcombined.

Large global meat companies arenow also investing in futuristic meatprojects, by means of outsourcingtheir own rather inward thinkingtraditional food technologists (Tab.).In a way, these conglomerate com-panies act as a venture capitalprovider and thus allowing theacceleration of research and devel-opment of these highly innovativefood systems, along with servicecompanies that facilitate the market-ing of these products.

Memphis Meat has receivedfinancial backing from Cargill andhousehold-name individuals like SirRichard Branson and Bill Gates, aswell as the venture capital arm ofTyson Foods. Memphis Meat mis-sion is bringing cultured meat to theplate in a more sustainable, afford-able and delicious way. Mosa Meatreceived their first major financialbacking from the German pharma-ceutical powerhouse Merck (MVentures) as well as from BellFoods, Switzerland. Meat is stilluniversally enjoyed in many of theworld cultures and traditions,

.................................................................................Tab.: Cellular biotechnology – The drivers of change

Company Location ProductBlueNalu San Diego CA, USA cell-based seafoodBolt Threads Emeryville CA, USA cell-based fibers (textile)Cellular Agriculture Society Cambridge MA, USA cell-based agricultureClara Foods Redwood Redwood City CA, USA cell-based egg albumenFinless Foods San Francisco CA, USA cell-based seafoodJust San Francisco CA, USA cell-based meatGeltor San Leandro CA, USA cell-based collagenGood Food Institute Washington DC, USA promoting plant and cellHigher Steaks Bristol, UK cell-based meatIntegriculture Tokyo, Japan cell-based meatKiran Meats San Francisco CA, USA cell-based meatMeatable Amsterdam, NL cell-based meatMemphis Meat San Francisco CA, USA cell-based meatMission Barns Berkeley CA, USA cell-based meatModern Meadow Nutley NJ , USA cell-based leatherMosa Meat Maastricht, NL cell-based meatNew Age Meats San Francisco CA, USA cell-based meatNew Harvest New York NY, USA incubatorOutermost House Berkeley CA, USA incubator plant and cellPerfect Day Foods Berkeley CA, USA cell-based dairy proteinSeafuture Sustainable Biotech Calgary, Canada cell-seafoodSuper Meat Tel Aviv, Israel cell-based meatFuture Meat Technologies Tel Aviv, Israel cell-based meatAleph Farms Ashdod, Israel cell-based meatWild Earth San Francisco CA, USA cell-based pet foodWild Type San Francisco CA, USA cell-based salmon

Source: HOOGENKAMP FLEISCHWIRTSCHAFT international 6_2018

Companies and products

Fleischwirtschaft international 6_2018 43

Technology

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though it is time to switch fromconventional slaughtered meat thatcreates challenges for the environ-ment to a humane and cleanmethod of meat production.

More to the point, most newtechnology introductions are takenwith skepticism and often driven bya “can’t do” attitude. It is preciselythe entrepreneurial spirits of manyof the capital venture companiesthat are uniquely able to select thetrue innovators and provide thefinancial means to make theirdream come true. With this is mind;it seems to be easier to fund a dis-ruptive plant protein startup than tofind capital support for an animalprotein startup company.

PushbackIncreased interest by consumers andcell-cultured companies’ merits apublic hearing to further discusshow such products should be regu-lated for food safety. Like with anyother disrupting innovation, there isusually a pushback from the legacymeat industry for fear that their

“monopoly” business model mightbe threatened. Instead of embracingnew science and looking how toincorporate new learning’s, there arereports of orchestrated attempts tosabotage or greatly slow down thespeed of progress.

The debate in the US is heating upover how to regulate and label cell-based meat protein products. Thelegacy meat industry is againstcalling these products “meat” andwants these to be held to the samestringent food safety standards asmeat harvested from food animals.

Some cultured meat startupcompanies believe that traditionalmeat lobbying groups have an undueand threatening amount of politicalclout, and hence prefer the USDA toregulate, rather than the FDA as-suming responsibility for culturedmeat safety and labeling.

The introduction of cultured meatmight at first come across as a super-sensitive issue for the cattlemen andthe legacy meat industry. However,ultimately it will be an industry-wideopportunity, rather than as a threat

taking away market share fromfarmers.

It is not a bad thing to take a stepback to view these changes in light ofthe greater good, a changing ethicaland moral landscape, acknowledg-ment of knowledge gaps, implica-tions on a larger time scale, unfore-seen effects on ecosystems, andmuch more.

For example, the pharma- andcosmetics industry heavily relies onanimal by-products to produce theirconsumer products. Especially in thetime of backlash against synthetic,the same flexitarian consumers arepushing the pharma- and cosmeticsindustry to look for natural alterna-tives, which may or may not beanimal-derived. This is potentially animpasse and will lead to more indus-trial backing for the meat industry toprotect the current supply chain ofby-products. However, taking theprevious into consideration, thedifference in applying breaks andmoney-driven protectionism is likesplitting hairs, which is a discussionon its own.

Ultimately, implementation ofnew technology will win due to thenumerous inherent socioeconomic,health and food security issues theglobal market will eventually need.History has always shown thatprogress can be temporarily sloweddown, but ultimately it will succeed.Hence, the big-name traditionalmeat processors will ultimatelyembrace the emerging cultured meattechnology, whether as acquirers,licensees, customers or investors.

Name calling anyone?It is clearly a huge problem that“laboratory-grown” meat is stillstruggling with its own descriptivename. As it stands now, cell-culturedmeat is known by many names:cellular meat, clean meat, syntheticmeat, fake meat and “in-vitro meat”.These are just different names forbasically trying to say: “Cell culturesinstead of animals”.

There are currently clear divisionsbetween the interest of traditionalmeat stakeholders, and the advo-cates of the new technology promot-

44 Fleischwirtschaft international 6_2018

Technology Cell-cultured meat for today’s future

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ing names such as “cell-based meat”or “cell-cultured meat”. The strategyof the traditional livestock producersis intended to cast a negative im-pression by using terminology suchas “lab-grown meat”, fake meat,synthetic meat and artificial meat.Clearly, the cell-cultured meat com-panies believe those names are falseand misleading and prefer to usefamiliar household names in combi-nation with modifiers such as “cell-based” in order to provide the con-sumer with meaningful and trans-parent information i.e. sharing theinformation that the product hasbeen produced without killing ani-mals. The term cell-based or cell-cultured meat seems to be the front-runner to be selected as the pre-ferred name descriptor. The name isclear, factual and inclusive anddistinct from plant-based proteinsand animal based meats. From theconsumer standpoint of view, cell-cultured meat labeling will needtruthfulness and transparency.Ideally, the agreed upon consumerlabel should not imply an advantageor disadvantage with traditional-raised and slaughtered meat.

It is not an easy task for govern-ment regulators how to adequatelydifferentiate cell-cultured productsfrom the traditional meat products.There are clearly opposing viewsbetween the animal farming com-munity and the cell-cultured disrup-tors. It is no surprise that animalfarmers prefer keeping the monop-oly of using the word “meat” and notto confuse consumers with emerg-ing biotechnology systems of assem-bling or growing a group of cellstogether in a bioreactor. It will alsobe important to communicate vialabel disclosure if growth support“additives” are used when producingcell-based foods. For example, for

cell-cultured meat manufacturing,antimicrobials may be used to assurea sterile growing environment. Theconsumer has the right to know sothat informed purchasing decisionscan be made based on the presenceor absence of various support orprocessing material in cell-culturedproducts.

Both the US Food and DrugAgency (FDA) and USDA will likelyplay an active role in the regulatoryoversight of cell-cultured meattechnology, including safety evalua-tions and consumer name defini-tions and regulatory nomenclatureand statement of identity. The label-ing debate is far from over andprobably will continue right until themoment the very first commercially-produced cell-cultured products areintroduced. Whatever the regulatoryoutcome, it is important to acknowl-edge that scientific innovation andprogress should not be stymied. Aslong as cell-cultured meat products

are organoleptic and nutritionallyequivalent to their non-biotechnolog-ically counterparts, the new wavefood disruptors should not be re-quired to any further hurdles ofregulatory burden, including manda-tory labels. The scientific innovationof cellular agriculture has far morein common with medical biotechnol-ogy than animals to be raised forslaughtering. The idea of growinganimal cells at scale inside a bioreac-tor is still something that ordinarypeople will find hard to grasp.

For consumers the main dilemmais the marketing name of thesecell-cultured foods. There indeed isa risk that consumers will be totallystressed out accepting names thatsound like a sinister science experi-ment. An overwhelming number ofUS consumers believe that foodproducts developed from culturedanimal cells should carry specificlabels about how they are producedor at least as something other thanjust “meat”. Perhaps a way forwardis to take a page from the upstartcraft beer companies and call it“craft meat”. The word “craft” typi-cally has a positive consumer per-ception and the message can getacross that animal-free meat facili-ties will look more like fermentationbreweries. Scientists frequently usethe name “cell-cultured meat”,though other names might becomemore trending and present a betterstrategy to attract the interest of theconsumer. But then again, there isstill the very influential politicallobby of the traditional meat indus-try and, no doubt, heavy pushbackwill happen. If – for example – the

wording “clean meat” is going to bethe marketing choice, in the mind ofthe consumer, all other traditional orconventional meat will be consid-ered “unclean”. Consumers usuallyattach symbolic meanings to certainwords, even though they do notunderstand these words. For exam-ple, meat grown from stem cells,rather than traditional meat, can beconsidered less natural and perhapsmore risky.

The bottomline of the meat har-vest traditionalists concern is thatcell cultured meat does not involveraising and slaughtering animals,might negatively impact the meatindustry. However, seen from adifferent perspective, cell-culturedmeat is an opportunity, not a threat,because it represents a new andbetter manner to supply muchneeded food for the global supplychain. Cell-cultured meat satisfies allthe functional characteristics ofmeat, in that it is derived from acertain species of livestock, from acertain part of the animal, andnon-living. Limitations on productlabeling will make it difficult forcultured meat products to be suc-cessfully commercially introduced.It can be expected that traditionalmeat producers will attempt torestrict the use of the terms “beef”,“pork”, and “chicken” to productsfrom animals.

Feeding the worldCell-based biotechnology should beseen as an additional method – andnot as a replacement for traditionalharvested meat. Both systems willbe needed to secure safe food avail-ability for the rapidly growing globalpopulation Traditional livestockfarmers do not have to worry aboutthe competition from cell-culturedmeat companies. There are clearFAO forecasts that the global meatproduction needs to increase by50% to provide quality protein forthe ten billion people living onplanet earth by 2050. If 100% of thatgrowth were cell-based meat, itwould not impact a single livestockproducer anywhere on the planet.

HenkHoogenkampis a protein application

specialist, board member,

venturist and author .

Author’s address:

[email protected]

...................................

Source: HOOGENKAMP FLEISCHWIRTSCHAFT international 6_2018

General schema of the process for cell-cultured meat products fromanimal-origin cells in bioreators (adapted from SPECHT and LAGALLY, 2017) .