Feature article: Cultured Meat

28. October 2021 by Andreas Pompenig Biotech, Feature article, Process Expertise

On the way from the laboratory to industrial production

Pioneering technologies for sustainable nutrition

Cultured Meat is on everyone's lips - so far, however, only in a figurative sense, but how can innovative food be produced efficiently on a commercial scale? Before it is ready for the market, there are still a few hurdles to overcome, especially with regard to scalability, costs and regulatory approvals.

ZETA has many years of process experience and in-depth product know-how in the processing of fruits and vegetables as well as in the fermentation of food. From the perfectly coordinated powder admixture to the efficient production of emulsions - together with the customer, ZETA develops solutions for special technical challenges. The specialist for aseptic production processes also keeps a close eye on current trends in the food industry.

Forward-looking technologies for sustainable nutrition

The international community is confronted with major challenges due to the world’s rapidly growing population. How can ten billion people soon be fed? Traditional livestock farming and fishing still provide for the demand for animal proteins. However, this goes hand in hand with high resource consumption and enormous greenhouse gas emissions. Innovative technologies that enable the sustainable production of proteins as part of a high-quality diet offer a solution. This includes cellular agriculture (CellAg for short) as well as the use and further development of fermentation processes for the production of "alternative proteins" and other food components.

Forward-looking technologies for sustainable nutrition.
Cultured Meat: a product of "cellular agriculture".

Cultured Meat: a product of "cellular agriculture"

Cultured Meat is on everyone’s lips - but so far only in a figurative sense. However, it is only a matter of time before the meat from CellAg lands on our plates as a sustainable and animal-friendly alternative. Numerous start-ups around the world are already dedicated to the alternative cultivation of animal products such as meat, seafood, milk and eggs. Different solutions for sustainable coverage of the demand for meat and fish substitutes in the food market are already pushing into the market and the industry is growing inexorably.

The advantages of cellular agriculture

The breeding, fattening, slaughtering and processing of animals are no longer part of production in cellular agriculture. Everything takes place in bioreactors, where the cells are grown. People, animals and the environment benefit from this: Safe food is produced under controlled, sterile conditions, free from pathogens without the hormones and antibiotics common in meat production.

Contact Claudia Neuhold - Managing Director ERIDIA

High-quality products are created free of animal suffering and the problems of factory farming or overfishing. Production processes in cellular agriculture are also significantly more sustainable than traditional agriculture: Land consumption could be reduced by 80%, water consumption by 94% and emitted greenhouse gases by 76%!

Contact: Claudia Neuhold
Managing Director ERIDIA

How does cellular agriculture work?

Cell-based products are essentially manufactured using tissue engineering methods and fermentation. The choice of method depends on whether the products are “cellular” or “acellular”. The former (this includes cultured meat) exist in the form of tissue. In tissue engineering, animal tissue cells are grown outside of the animal’s body. In a first step, stem cells are taken from a single living animal. These isolated cells are made to multiply, that is, to grow, in a nutrient medium in a controlled environment. The next step is the differentiation of the cells, for example, into muscle cells. These cells of a certain type and certain type of tissue are built up on a carrier (scaffold), which enables structure and direction to be developed.

In our own body, the bloodstream ensures that nutrients are supplied to and waste products removed from the tissue. In cell cultures, on the other hand, there are no blood vessels. The supply of nutrients and the removal of toxic metabolic products is one of the challenges in the development of production processes for Cultured Meat. The nutrient content for optimal growth conditions is maintained in so-called perfusion bioreactors by continuously removing used-up media and replace it with new media. The scale-up of these processes is an enormous challenge, and the need for biotechnological knowledge and specialized equipment is high.

Breaking new grounds together with ZETA

Before it is ready for the market, there are still a few hurdles to overcome, especially with regard to scalability, costs and regulatory approvals. The central question is: How does the efficient production of innovative foods such as Cultured Meat succeed on a commercial scale? The answer: With ZETA, a partner with industrial experience who can support you in scaling up these processes in a variety of ways!

ZETA has extensive experience in aseptic process management

In addition to know-how in process scaling, ZETA has extensive experience in aseptic process management and process engineering for the food and biopharmaceutical industry (for example, cell culture fermentation). The best prerequisites for developing tailor-made solutions together with the customer.

Claudia Neuhold - Managing Director ERIDIA
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Contact Claudia Neuhold - Managing Director ERIDIA
Contact: Claudia Neuhold
Managing Director ERIDIA

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