Cultured meat: is it a viable alternative protein?

A growing appetite

Cultured meat, also sometimes known as ‘lab meat’ or ‘clean meat’, is essentially the in vitro cultivation of animal tissue from a few stem cells from an animal. 

Growing environmental, social and cultural pressures have driven considerable investment and scientific advances in the development of cultured meat for human consumption. In particular, there is increasing recognition of the unsustainability of intensive livestock farming as a way to feed the growing global population. 

Why consider cultured meat?

Cultured meat for the pet food industry would likely have different requirements than that being developed for human consumption. In the human market, meat is quantified and valued according to parameters such as tenderness, colour, pH, protein and fat content, flavour, and even shrinkage. Whereas, in the pet industry, protein and fat content are key, together with ingredient digestibility and palatability. Digestibility and palatability are evaluated quite differently for pets than for humans and may be easier to satisfy, opening up the opportunities for the development of cultured meat for the pet industry. 

Potential nutritional benefits are also interesting, as cultured meat would be highly consistent in quality and there is the potential to fortify it, for example, with beneficial fatty acids. Greater quality control also means less risk of contamination.

A brief timeline on the development of cultured meat

1971

• The first in vitro culture of muscle cells was performed by Russell Ross.

Early 2000s

• Jason Mathay performed original research on cultured meat.
• NASA carried out research into producing cultured meat from turkey cells.
• Worldwide patent on cultured meat using a collagen-based technique filed.
• NSR works on culturing goldfish cells into fish fillets

2003

• Mark Post, Professor at Maastricht University produced the first proof of concept of cultured meat with the first burger produced directly from cells.
• Mosa Meat anticipates commercialisation of its cultured meat products by 2021. 
• Harvard University experts begin work on cultured meat.

2008

• PETA offered a $1 million (€0.9 million) prize for development of lab-grown meat from chicken.
• The Dutch Government also invested $4 million (€3.6 million) in cultured meat production.

Obstacles to commercialisation

Scalability is the main challenge in cultured meat development. The main focus at the moment in cultured meat technology is in developing larger scale production equipment and facilities. These are the bioreactors that will enable commercialisation of cultured meat. 

Cost is also still high. Memphis Meats estimated the cost of production of cultured beef at $5,280 (€4,784) per kg in 2017. But that cost is coming down rapidly and is expected to become competitive with ‘real’ meat within the next few years.

Is it coming soon?

It is anticipated that larger scale production will be possible in approximately five years. Whether cultured meat will become a viable ingredient in pet foods in that timescale depends on the speed of commercialisation, economics and other market factors. Perhaps initial development might only be in niche brands