Scale‐up economics for cultured meat

Abstract

This analysis examines the potential of "cultured meat" products made from edible animal cell culture to measurably displace the global consumption of conventional meat. Recognizing that the scalability of such products must in turn depend on the scale and process intensity of animal cell production, this study draws on technoeconomic analysis perspectives in industrial fermentation and upstream biopharmaceuticals to assess the extent to which animal cell culture could be scaled like a fermentation process. Low growth rate, metabolic inefficiency, catabolite inhibition, and shear-induced cell damage will all limit practical bioreactor volume and attainable cell density. Equipment and facilities with adequate microbial contamination safeguards have high capital costs. The projected costs of suitably pure amino acids and protein growth factors are also high. The replacement of aminoacid media with plant protein hydrolysates is discussed and requires further study.Capital-and operating-cost analyses of conceptual cell-mass production facilities indicate economics that would likely preclude the affordability of their products as food. The analysis concludes that metabolic efficiency enhancements and the development of low-cost media from plant hydrolysates are both necessary but insufficient conditions for displacement of conventional meat by cultured meat. K E Y W O R D Sanimal cell culture, bioreactor design, fermentation, techno-economic analysis 1 | INTRODUCTION "Cultured meat" refers to a nascent field of bioproducts that aim to replace conventional meat produced by farming and slaughter with analogous or alternative products made from edible animal cell culture. In one concept (Figure 1), cells from a live-animal biopsy are propagated through a series of increasingly large bioreactors, growing in number with each step and ultimately inoculating a 20 m 3 bioreactor to produce a batch of 2-3 tons of animal cell slurry (van der Weele & Tramper, 2014). The cultured cell mass, perhaps blended with vegetable proteins and fats, is further processed into unstructured mincemeat-or nugget-style foods. Advanced concepts propose to deposit cultured animal cells onto an edible scaffold that provides form and possibly hypertrophy, resulting in structured food products that more closely resemble a cut of meat. Alternatively known as "cell-based" or "cultivated" meat, these technologies are positioned to address global problems associated with industrial animal farming, such as its contributions to pollution, foodborne illness, and anthropogenic climate change (Chestney &

Simple and effective serum-free medium for sustained expansion of bovine satellite cells for cell cultured meat

“…At the same time, cultured meat could improve animal welfare, food-system resilience, and human health outcomes 4 – 6 . The challenges that face the successful technological transition of cultured meat to the marketplace stem from the need for production systems that are low-cost, scalable, food-safe, and free of animal-derived inputs 4 , 7 , 8 . Here, cell culture media is a particularly problematic hurdle for several reasons.…”

“…Here, cell culture media is a particularly problematic hurdle for several reasons. First, media comprises the majority (>99%) of the cost of current production systems 7 – 9 . Second, the culture of meat-relevant cells, such as bovine satellite cells (BSCs), has traditionally relied on fetal bovine serum (FBS), a notoriously expensive, unsustainable, and inconsistent component, which is inherently antithetical to the aims of cultured meat 4 .…”

In vitro culture of bovine fibroblasts using select serum-free media supplemented withChlorella vulgarisextract

“…In 2013 it was estimated that raising livestock contributed roughly 14% to total greenhouse gas emissions, more than half of which was attributable to meat production (Gerber et al 2013). Cell cultured meat has the potential to offer substantial environmental and social advantages over traditional agriculture practices using livestock (Tuomisto and Teixeira De Mattos 2011; Ladak and Anthis 2021), yet analysis on the economics of cultured versus conventional meat production shows high cost barriers, particularly those associated with the nutrients required (Humbird 2021). Cell culture media is commonly supplemented with fetal bovine serum (FBS) because animal serum promotes cell growth (Penttinen and Saxén 1959).…”

Bioengineering Outlook on Cultivated Meat Production

“…On a global scale, the CM industry is still at the proof-of-concept stage, despite the individual breakthroughs by several companies such as Aleph Farms, Mosa meat, Eat Just and others. There are some lines of thought that claim that CM will most likely never achieve a status of a cost-competitive food [ 320 , 321 ]. Indeed, there are still many challenges that the nascent CM industry would need to overcome, primarily associated with the metabolic inefficiency, shear-induced cell damage and low growth rate that limit the up-scaling of the bioreactors to be used.…”