Cultured meat (also known by other names, see below) is a meat produced by in vitro cell cultures of animal cells.[1] It is a form of cellular agriculture, with such agricultural methods being explored in the context of increased consumer demand for protein.[2]
Cultured meat is produced using tissue engineering techniques traditionally used in regenerative medicines.[3] The concept of cultured meat was introduced to wider audiences by Jason Matheny in the early 2000s after he co-authored a paper[4] on cultured meat production and created New Harvest, the world's first nonprofit organization dedicated to in-vitro meat research.[5]
Cultured meat may have the potential to address substantial global problems of the environmental impact of meat production, animal welfare, food security and human health.[6][7][8][9][10] Specifically, it can be thought of in the context of the mitigation of climate change.[2]
In 2013, professor Mark Post at Maastricht University pioneered a proof-of-concept for cultured meat by creating the first hamburger patty grown directly from cells. Since then, other cultured meat prototypes have gained media attention: SuperMeat opened a farm-to-fork restaurant called "The Chicken"[11] in Tel Aviv to test consumer reaction to its "Chicken" burger,[12] while the "world's first commercial sale of cell-cultured meat" occurred in December 2020 at the Singapore restaurant "1880", where cultured meat manufactured by the US firm Eat Just was sold.[13]
While most efforts in the space focus on common meats such as pork, beef, and chicken which comprise the bulk of consumption in developed countries,[14] some new companies such as Orbillion Bio have focused on high end or unusual meats including Elk, Lamb, Bison, and the prized Wagyu strain of beef.[15] Avant Meats has brought cultured grouper fish to market [16] as other companies have started to pursue cultivating additional fish species and other seafood.[17]
The production process is constantly evolving, driven by multiple companies and research institutions.[18] The applications of cultured meat have led to ethical, health, environmental, cultural, and economic discussions.[19] In terms of market strength, data published by the non-governmental organization Good Food Institute found that in 2021 cultivated meat companies attracted $140 million in Europe alone.[2] Currently cultured meat is served at special events and few high end restaurants, mass production of cultured meat has not started yet.
Nomenclature
Besides cultured meat, the terms healthy meat,[20] slaughter-free meat,[21] in vitro meat, vat-grown meat,[22] lab-grown meat,[23] cell-based meat,[24] clean meat,[25] cultivated meat[26] and synthetic meat[27] have been used to describe the product. Artificial meat is occasionally used,[28] although that specific term has multiple definitions.
Between 2016 and 2019, clean meat gained traction. The Good Food Institute (GFI) coined the term in 2016,[29] and in late 2018, the institute published research claiming that use of clean better reflected the production process and benefits.[30][31] By 2018 it had surpassed cultured and "in vitro" in media mentions and Google searches.[32] Some industry stakeholders felt that the term unnecessarily tarnished conventional meat producers, continuing to prefer cell-based meat as a neutral alternative.[33][34]
In September 2019, GFI announced new research which found that the term cultivated meat is sufficiently descriptive and differentiating, possesses a high degree of neutrality, and ranks highly for consumer appeal.[26][35] A September 2021 poll by GFI, indicated that the majority of industry CEOs have a preference for cultivated meat, with 75 percent of 44 companies preferring it.[36]
History
Initial research
The theoretical possibility of growing meat in an industrial setting has long captured the public imagination. In a 1931 essay published by various periodicals and later included in his work Thoughts and Adventures, British statesman Winston Churchill wrote: "We shall escape the absurdity of growing a whole chicken to eat the breast or wing, by growing these parts separately under a suitable medium."[37]
In the 1950s, Dutch researcher Willem van Eelen independently came up with the idea for cultured meat. As a prisoner of war during the Second World War, Van Eelen suffered from starvation, leading him to be passionate about food production and food security as an adult.[38] He later attended the University of Amsterdam. At one point he attended a lecture discussing the prospects of preserved meat.[39] Coupled with the discovery of cell lines earlier in the century, this enriched the idea of cultivated meat.
In vitro cultivation of muscle fibers was first performed successfully in 1971 when pathology professor Russel Ross cultured guinea-pig aorta.
In 1991, Jon F. Vein of the United States filed for, and ultimately secured, patent US 6835390 for the production of tissue-engineered meat for human consumption, wherein muscle and fat would be grown in an integrated fashion to create food products.[40]
In 2001, University of Amsterdam dermatologist Wiete Westerhof, researcher and businessperson Willem van Eelen, and businessperson Willem van Kooten announced that they had filed for a worldwide patent on a process to produce cultured meat.[41] In the process, a matrix of collagen is seeded with muscle cells, which are then bathed in a nutritious solution and induced to divide.[42]
That same year, NASA began conducting experiments on cultured meat, with the intent of allowing far-traveling astronauts to grow meat without sacrificing storage. In partnership with Morris Benjaminson of Turro College, they were able to cultivate pieces of goldfish and later, turkey.[43]
In 2003, Oron Catts and Ionat Zurr of the Tissue Culture and Art Project and Harvard Medical School exhibited in Nantes a "steak" a few centimeters wide, grown from frog stem cells, which was cooked and eaten. The goal of the exhibition was to start a conversation surrounding the ethics of cultured meat — "was it ever alive?", "was it ever killed?", "is it in any way disrespectful to an animal to throw it away?"[44]
In the early 2000s, American public health student Jason Matheny traveled to India and visited a chicken factory farm. From a public health perspective, he was appalled by the implications of this system for human consumers. Upon returning to the United States, Matheny teamed up with three scientists involved in NASA's effort to culture meat. The four commenced research on cultured meat. They published their findings in 2005, the first peer-reviewed literature on the subject. In 2004, Matheny founded New Harvest, which aims to encourage development in the field by funding public research.[45]
In 2008, PETA offered a $1 million prize to the first company to bring cultured chicken meat to consumers by 2012.[46] The contestant was required to complete two tasks before receiving the prize: "Produce a cultured chicken meat product that was indistinguishable from real chicken," and "Produce the product in large enough quantities to be competitively sold in at least 10 states." The contest was later extended until 4 March 2014. Since the challenge was first announced in 2008, researchers around the world have made significant progress, although nothing has reached the mass market. The deadline eventually expired without a winner; however, the publicity around the topic brought cultured meat further into the eyes of scientists and animal welfare groups.[47]
In 2008, the Dutch government invested $4 million into experiments regarding cultured meat.[48] The In Vitro Meat Consortium, a group formed by international researchers, held the first international conference on the matter, hosted by the Food Research Institute of Norway in April 2008.[49] Time magazine declared cultured meat production to be one of the 50 breakthrough ideas of 2009.[50] In November 2009, scientists from the Netherlands announced they had managed to grow meat using cells from a live pig.[51]
"The Netherlands has always been a leader in food systems innovation and there is a real sense of pride in cultivated meat as a Dutch invention," Robert E. Jones of the Maastricht-based cellular agriculture company Mosa Meat has publicly remarked, looking back at the concept's history.[2]
First public trial
The first cultured beef burger patty was created by Mark Post at Maastricht University in 2013.[52] It was made from over 20,000 thin strands of muscle tissue, cost over $300,000 and needed 2 years to produce.[53]
The burger was tested on live television in London on 5 August 2013. It was cooked by chef Richard McGeown of Couch's Great House Restaurant, Polperro, Cornwall, and tasted by critics Hanni Rützler, a food researcher from the Future Food Studio, and Josh Schonwald. Rützler stated, "There is really a bite to it, there is quite some flavour with the browning. I know there is no fat in it so I didn't really know how juicy it would be, but there is quite some intense taste; it's close to meat, it's not that juicy, but the consistency is perfect. This is meat to me... It's really something to bite on and I think the look is quite similar." Rützler added that even in a blind trial she would have taken the product for meat rather than a soya copy.[54]
Industry development
It's just a matter of time before this is gonna happen, I'm absolutely convinced of that. In our case, I estimate the time to be about 3 years before we are ready to enter the market on a small scale, about 5 years to enter the market on a larger scale, and if you'd ask me: "When will [cultured meat] be in the supermarket around the corner?" That'll be closer to 10 than to 5 years, I think.
Peter Verstrate, Mosa Meat (2018)[55]: 1:06:15
Between 2011 and 2017, many cultured meat startups were launched. Memphis Meats (now Upside Foods[56]), a Silicon Valley startup founded by a cardiologist, launched a video in February 2016, showcasing its cultured beef meatball.[57][58][59] In March 2017, it showcased chicken tenders and duck a l'orange, the first cultured poultry shown to the public.[60][61][62] Memphis Meats was later the subject of the 2020 Meat the Future documentary.
An Israeli company, SuperMeat, ran a viral crowdfunding campaign in 2016, for its work on cultured chicken.[63][64][65][66][67]
Finless Foods, a San Francisco-based company working on cultured fish, was founded in June 2016. In March 2017 it commenced laboratory operations. Director Mike Selden said in July 2017 to expect cultured fish products on the market by the end of 2019.[68]
In March 2018, Eat Just (in 2011 founded as Hampton Creek in San Francisco, later known as Just, Inc.) claimed to be able to offer a consumer product from cultured meat by the end of 2018. According to CEO Josh Tetrick the technology was already there. JUST had about 130 employees and a research department of 55 scientists, where cultured meat from poultry, pork and beef was researched. JUST has received investments from Chinese billionaire Li Ka-shing, Yahoo! co-founder Jerry Yang and according to Tetrick also by Heineken International and others.[69]
There is a handful [of startups]. It's quite interesting to see, there are three hubs: one in Silicon Valley, one in the Netherlands and one in Israel. I think that's because these three places have firstly, a great agricultural university – we've got Wageningen; secondly, a great medical university – for us that's Leiden; and finally we've got Delft on the engineering side. Those three combined gives you a firm basis to [develop cultured meat], and that [combination] exists in Israel, the Netherlands and America.
Krijn de Nood, Meatable (2020)[70]
Dutch startup Meatable, consisting of Krijn de Nood, Daan Luining, Ruud Out, Roger Pederson, Mark Kotter and Gordana Apic among others, reported in September 2018 that it had succeeded in growing meat using pluripotent stem cells from animal umbilical cords. Although such cells are reportedly difficult to work with, Meatable claimed to be able to direct them to behave to become muscle or fat cells as needed. The major advantage is that this technique bypasses fetal bovine serum, meaning that no animal has to be killed to produce meat.[71] That month, an estimated 30 cultured meat startups operated across the world.[55]
Integriculture is a Japan-based company working on their CulNet system. Competitors included England based Multus Media and Canadian Future Fields.[72]
In August 2019, five American startups announced the formation of the Alliance for Meat, Poultry & Seafood Innovation (AMPS Innovation), a coalition seeking to work with regulators to create a pathway to market for cultured meat and seafood.[73] The founding members include Eat Just, Memphis Meats, Finless Foods, BlueNalu, and Fork & Goode.[74] Similarly in December 2021, a group of 13 European and Israeli companies (Aleph Farms, Bluu Biosciences, Cubiq Foods, Future Meat, Gourmey, Higher Steaks, Ivy Farm, Meatable, Mirai Foods, Mosa Meat, Peace of Meat, SuperMeat, and Vital Meat) established Cellular Agriculture Europe, a Belgium-based association that sought to 'find common ground and speak with a shared voice for the good of the industry, consumers, and regulators'.[75][76][77]
In 2019, the Foieture project was launched in Belgium with the goal of developing cultured foie gras (the name is a portmanteau of 'foie' and 'future') by a consortium of 3 companies (cultured-meat startup Peace of Meat, small meat-seasoning company Solina, and small pâté-producing company Nauta) and 3 non-profit institutes (university KU Leuven, food industry innovation centre Flanders Food, and Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant).[78] Peace of Meat stated in December 2019 that it intended to complete its proof of concept in 2020, to produce its first prototype in 2022, and to go to market in 2023.[78] That month, the Foieture project received a research grant of almost 3.6 million euros from the Innovation and Enterprise Agency of the Flemish Government.[78] In May 2020, Peace of Meat's Austrian-born cofounder and scientific researcher Eva Sommer stated that the startup was then able to produce 20 grams of cultured fat at a cost of about 300 euros (€15,000/kg); the goal was to reduce the price to 6 euros per kilogram by 2030.[79] Piece of Meat built two laboratories in the Port of Antwerp.[79] In late 2020, MeaTech acquired Peace of Meat for 15 million euros, and announced in May 2021 that it would build a new large-scale pilot plant in Antwerp by 2022.[80]
In 2019, Aleph Farms collaborated with 3D Bioprinting Solutions to culture meat on the International Space Station. This was done by extruding meat cells onto a scaffold using a 3D printer.[81]
In January 2020, Quartz found around 30 cultured meat startups, and that Memphis Meats, Just Inc. and Future Meat Technologies were the most advanced because they were building pilot plants.[82][83] According to New Scientist in May 2020, 60 start-ups were developing cultured meat. Some of these were technology suppliers.[84] Growth media reportedly still cost "hundreds of dollars per litre, but for clean meat production to scale this needs to drop to around $1 a litre."[84] In June 2020, Chinese government officials called for a national strategy to compete in cultured meat.[85]
In November 2020, Indian start-up Clear Meat claimed it had managed to cultivate chicken mince at the cost of only 800–850 Indian rupees (US$10.77–11.44), while a slaughtered processed chicken cost about 1000 rupees.[86]
Market entry
In the European Union, novel foods such as cultured meat products have to go through a testing period of about 18 months during which a company must prove to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) that their product is safe.[87]
In November 2020, SuperMeat opened a 'test restaurant' in Ness Ziona, Israel right next to its pilot plant; journalists, experts and a small number of consumers could book an appointment to taste the novel food there, while looking through a glass window into the production facility on the other side. The restaurant was not yet fully open to the public, because as of June 2021 SuperMeat still needed to wait for regulatory approval to start mass production for public consumption, and because the Covid-19 pandemic restricted restaurant operations.[88][89]
On 2 December 2020, the Singapore Food Agency approved the "chicken bites" produced by Eat Just for commercial sale. It marked the first time that a cultured meat product passed the safety review (which took 2 years) of a food regulator, and was widely regarded as a milestone for the industry. The chicken bits were scheduled for introduction in Singaporean restaurants.[90] Restaurant "1880" became the first to serve cultured meat to customers on Saturday 19 December 2020.[91][92]
In March 2022, cultured meat producers had reached the level of attempting to gain regulatory approval from European Union supranational institutions coming just before mass goods could be sold to consumers.[2]
On April 27, 2022, the European Commission approved the request for the collection of signatures for the European Citizens' Initiative End The Slaughter Age to shift subsidies from animal husbandry to cellular agriculture. [93].
Companies
Note: dates in italics refer to projected dates of achievement in the future; they may shift.
Aside from these companies, non-profit organisations such as New Harvest, the Good Food Institute, ProVeg International[162] and the Cellular Agriculture Society advocate for, fund and research cultured meat.[163] Impossible Foods markets the Impossible Burger, which contains heme that the company claims gives the burger its bloody look and taste. Their soy leghemoglobin is produced by taking the soybean gene that encodes the heme protein and transferring it to yeast.[164][better source needed]
Pilot plants
Note: data in italics refer to unfinished projects or projected capacities in the future; they may shift.