Cultivated Meat: Are We at the Tipping Point?
Cultivated meat is here to stay – and will only get bigger. That’s the headline news based on the recent regulatory and commercial milestones that have been reached. But if this is the tipping point, the industry must push forward and overcome the remaining challenges together.
The cultivated meat industry recently celebrated the 10th anniversary of its first big milestone: the public unveiling of the first-ever lab-grown beef burger at a news conference in London in August 2013. [1]
Professor Mark Post, who led the University of Maastricht team behind this world-first, said that the goal was to move from this prototype costing hundreds of thousands of dollars to a consumer product that could compete with conventional meat on both price and taste. His best estimate for when that would happen? Around 10 years.
It looks like Professor Post has got that largely right. Recent positive news coming from the cultivated meat industry shows that the global market is currently being unlocked. Here are just a few main highlights that show the clear trend toward successful consumer products and an industry that will only grow and grow.
Now a global industry — the most recent State of the Industry report from the Good Food Institute indicates there are over 150 cultivated meat and seafood companies around the world, with 27 production facilities at pilot scale or larger, either in operation or soon to be [2].
Passing the taste test — in Singapore, where cultivated meat has been approved since 2020, GOOD Meat’s cultivated chicken has been a success at many street food stalls. Competing on taste and with the gap narrowing on price, cultivated meat and seafood are becoming more and more commercially viable, ethical, sustainable, yet luxury products.
Regulators are starting to approve — in a significant breakthrough for cultivated meat in the US, the FDA gave UPSIDE Foods and GOOD Meat the regulatory go-ahead for their cultivated chicken, bringing it within touching distance of receptive consumers. [3] This development also paves the way for industry investors to be bolder.
Europe following close behind — there have been a couple of concrete steps towards the opening and future development of the European market. Israeli cultivated meat company Aleph Farms announced it had started the regulatory approval process for novel foods to launch its cultivated steak in Switzerland, making it the first-ever submission for cultivated meat in Europe.[4] Similarly, in the Netherlands, there has been a landmark agreement between Mosa Meat (Professor Post’s company), Meatable, and the Dutch government on conducting pre-approval tastings.[5]
The competition is joining in —perhaps one of the clearest signs that we are at or close to the tipping point is that conventional meat producers are getting in on the action and looking to tap into cultivated meat’s market potential (valued at 100s of billions USD annually and even in excess of a trillion dollars in a decade or two).[2] Large meat companies like Cargill and Tyson Foods have invested in UPSIDE Foods. JBS has gone a step further and become the first to acquire a cultivated meat startup, BioTech Foods. It is also building a cultivated meat facility for its new subsidiary.
The future may be bright — and more and more inevitable — but the industry still has many challenges to address before we get there. Capacity is the main obstacle overall, given the difficulty of scaling up an entirely new industry to meet demand. Costs must also be brought down to be genuinely competitive in the marketplace and commercially attractive to both producers and investors.
Overcoming the Challenges
Clearly, there is a great need for scalability beyond the pilot scale and for process intensification. But with no dedicated or turn-key solutions, the industry must instead rely on existing biopharma technologies and experts. This is no easy feat, particularly as cell cultures are large-volume operations.
It is clear that the positive news in the industry needs to be matched by new production advances to lower media costs, increase cell mass, optimize bioprocesses, and reduce capital expenses.
This is where Sartorius is looking to support the industry by providing diverse products and solutions with the support of a worldwide team of experts in upstream and downstream bioprocessing.
Over the years, we have taken our long-standing pharma expertise, products, and regulatory knowledge to sharpen and fine-tune them towards food tech and food production, particularly in novel foods like cell-based meat and new dairy, where microorganisms and mammalian cells are key. Now, Sartorius is a one-stop shop for this rapidly developing and highly competitive market and a trusted partner to help overcome these challenges.
From Research to Production and Quality Control
We have a product portfolio covering upstream and downstream processes—from initial research all the way to full-scale manufacturing up to 2,000 L per bioreactor, and even more in parallel.
Biostat®B benchtop bioreactor can be used flexibly – from a basic unit for preclinical research to a fully qualified GMP-compliant system.
Nutrifreez® for cryopreservation of stem cells
Microsart® qPCR kits for Mycoplasma detection prior to cell banking
Fill-it cryovial filling system for stem cell repartition
Ambr® technology lets you run trials in parallel, increasing speed to market
Data analytics solutions for DOE and process control
Single-use technologies (bioreactors up to 2,000 L and media preparation up to 3,000 L) bring flexibility, low capex, and savings on utilities for the pilot/pre-industrial phase
Biosealer® TC and Biowelder® TC for automated, reliable, and sterile disconnection and connection
Expert team to support you in your process design and implementation
Cultivated meat is here to stay – and soon on a plate near you! But with time to market and process optimization both vital, Sartorius is looking to help the cultivated meat industry where it needs to be faster and more cost-effective.
Contact us to discuss your challenges and how we can overcome them together.
Watch the video 'The Future of Food & Beverage Starts Here"
Reference
- World’s first lab-grown burger is eaten in London. (2013). BBC News. Retrieved September 26, 2023, from https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-23576143
- Good Food Institute. (2022). State of the Industry Report - Cultivated meat and seafood. Retrieved from https://gfi.org/resource/cultivated-meat-eggs-and-dairy-state-of-the-industry-report/
- “A new era”: US regulator allows first sales of lab-grown meat. (2023). Reuters. Retrieved from https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/upside-foods-good-meat-receive-final-usda-approval-sell-cultivated-meat-2023-06-21/
- Aleph Farms Submits First Ever Application for Cultivated Meat in Europe. (2023). Business Wire. Retrieved from https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230726122722/en/Aleph-Farms-Submits-First-Ever-Application-for-Cultivated-Meat-in-Europe
- Mosa Meat Becomes B Corp Certified. (2023). GlobalNewswire. Retrieved from https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2023/09/07/2738965/0/en/Mosa-Meat-Becomes-B-Corp-Certified.html
