Cell-Cultured Meat: Is It Ready for Consumers?
The Evolving Landscape of Protein Sources
For millennia, meat consumption has been integral to the human diet, predating even the discovery of fire. However, growing evidence suggests that large-scale meat production poses significant challenges to both the environment and global well-being.
Historically, animals have held a central position in food systems across diverse cultures and regions. It’s difficult to envision a world devoid of animal protein sources derived through traditional methods.
The Rise of Alternative Proteins
Despite established practices, innovation continues to drive the exploration of alternative protein sources, which are gaining traction among consumers.
Cell-cultured meat represents a promising avenue in this shift. Often referred to as cultivated or lab-grown meat, this technology involves producing meat directly from animal cells, eliminating the need for animal slaughter.
While the field is still in its early stages, the potential benefits of cell-cultured meat are generating considerable interest. Currently, the process is characterized by slow production speeds and high costs.
Investment and Future Outlook
Investment activity within the cell-cultured meat sector is rapidly increasing. The year 2021 demonstrated a substantial appetite among both companies and investors for solutions that can accelerate scaling and improve profitability.
Despite the progress, the timeline for widespread availability of lab-grown meat remains uncertain. Achieving the production volumes necessary for mainstream retail distribution will require further advancements.
It is currently unclear precisely when cultivated meat will become a common offering in supermarkets.
The Future of Food: Cell-Cultured Meat
The increasing interest in cell-cultured meat is largely driven by significant global challenges related to food production. Issues such as overfarming, anthropogenic climate change, and dwindling freshwater resources are collectively contributing to a potential future marked by widespread food insecurity.
Current projections paint a concerning picture. The United Nations forecasts that food production must double to adequately nourish the approximately 10 billion people anticipated to inhabit the planet by 2050. Global meat consumption reached around 324 million metric tons in 2020, and this demand is projected to continue its upward trajectory.
Transforming our methods of food cultivation and production is essential to addressing this impending crisis. Solutions like vertical farming are already being implemented to combat overcultivation, and alternative protein sources are gaining traction. While currently representing only about 2% of the animal protein market, alternative proteins are predicted to experience a more than sevenfold increase by 2025.
“Addressing the food system and meat, egg, and dairy production is crucial for achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement,” states Sharyn Murray, senior investor engagement specialist at the Good Food Institute, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting innovative meat production. “The caloric conversion ratio differs greatly; chicken requires seven to eight calories input for one calorie output, whereas plant-based sources offer a one-to-one ratio.”
Cultivated meat represents one avenue for meeting future protein demands, alongside plant-based alternatives and fermentation technologies. Murray and other experts characterize this as “a substantial transformation of the food system,” acknowledging that it will be a gradual process.
Currently, only one company, Eat Just – through its subsidiary GOOD Meat – has achieved regulatory approval to produce and sell cell-cultured meat, and that approval is limited to Singapore. Recently, Eat Just also secured permission to market chicken breasts created using cell culture techniques.
Josh Tetrick, co-founder and CEO of Eat Just, believes the movement is underway, even if consumer adoption of lab-grown meat remains limited at this stage.“The focus now should be on the design, engineering, and large-scale deployment of production facilities and the necessary infrastructure to enable substantial output,” Tetrick explained. This is the most important task for companies in this sector.
Achieving full-scale production will necessitate an annual output of approximately 15 million pounds of meat. At this level, companies could supply a significant portion of the U.S. market, reaching major retailers, restaurants, and food distributors.
However, the current cost of cell-cultured meat remains high – a steak can currently cost around $50 – and extensive consumer education will be vital. This education will need to clarify the processes involved in creating these products, ensuring they replicate the taste, texture, and aroma of conventionally produced meat.
“Reducing production costs is a fundamental prerequisite for scalability and profitability,” Murray emphasized.
Significant Potential, Requiring Substantial Time for Realization
According to Tetrick, establishing the necessary infrastructure and support systems to achieve widespread availability will necessitate investments totaling billions of dollars over the next ten years. A significant challenge lies in the limited availability of readily available components, as the majority must be developed independently.
Eat Just is currently dedicating hundreds of millions of dollars to the processes of design, engineering, and implementation to facilitate large-scale production. However, substantial output volumes are not anticipated for at least two years.
Market forecasts indicate considerable growth potential. McKinsey projects the cultivated meat market to reach a valuation of $25 billion by 2030. Barclays presents a more bullish estimate, forecasting a $450 billion market size by 2040. Barclays also anticipates that cultivated meat will achieve price parity with conventionally produced meat within a timeframe of five to ten years.
An analysis conducted by The Good Food Institute in February 2021 revealed a substantial increase in venture capital investment within the sector, rising from $60 million in 2019 to $450 million in 2020, as noted by Murray.
Our reporting has covered numerous companies in this space, including Animal Alternative, New Age Meats, Orbillion Bio, Eat Just, and Tiamat Sciences. Last year, Aleph Farms and Mosa Meat announced an investment from actor Leonardo DiCaprio, though the specific amount remained undisclosed.
Current investment trends suggest this year may equal or surpass previous levels. For instance, Future Meat Technologies announced a $347 million funding round in December to support the production of lab-grown meat within the United States.
The past year has been particularly active for Future Meat Technologies, highlighted by the opening of its cultivated meat production line in Israel in April. The company is now evaluating potential locations within the U.S. for a large-scale production facility, as stated by founder and president Yaakov Nahmias in an interview with TechCrunch. Subject to regulatory approvals and facility acquisition, the company anticipates U.S. consumers will have access to its products within the coming year.
This relatively young company, established three years ago, is demonstrating its ability to scale production and significantly reduce the cost of cell-cultured meat. Future Meat develops its own growth factors, achieving a cost of $2 per liter for cell cultures, compared to the industry average of $160 to $170 per liter, according to Nahmias.
The company utilizes connective tissue cells, known as fibroblasts, which contribute to a reduction in cost, lowering it from $96 per kilogram of chicken in April to $17 per kilogram.
Nahmias explained that other cell types, such as stem cells, exhibit instability and limited growth potential, leading to increased costs. “Fibroblasts are stable and require only a limited number of growth factors and hormones for optimal development. The cost of fibroblasts begins at $50 and decreases further, providing a starting point already five times cheaper than our competitors.”
The Expanding Landscape of Cultivated Meat
Recent months have witnessed a significant surge in development within the cultivated meat industry.
Several organizations are achieving breakthroughs in reducing the cost of growth factors, also referred to as cell feed or media. Gelatex, a company located in Estonia, for example, secured €1.2 million in seed funding to facilitate the creation of a nanofibrous 3D scaffold designed for the cultivation of cell-based meat.
UPSIDE Foods, formerly known as Memphis Meats, represents a more substantial participant in this field. The company is pioneering the development of a growth factor completely free of animal components, a pivotal advancement for large-scale lab-grown meat production, as stated by founder and CEO Uma Valeti in an interview with TechCrunch.
In November, UPSIDE Foods also inaugurated a 53,000-square-foot facility in Emeryville, California, dedicated to engineering, production, and innovation. This center is engineered for the production of various meats, poultry, and seafood, and is projected to initially yield over 50,000 pounds of finished product, with a future capacity exceeding 400,000 pounds annually, according to Valeti.
“Over the past five years, we have focused on refining our technology and demonstrating a pathway to cost reduction,” Valeti explained. “Our facility serves as a model for future manufacturing sites, and our growth media provides optimism for the industry, suggesting that impactful innovations consistently align with regulatory compliance as we transition from premium to conventional pricing structures.”
MeaTech, an Israeli company specializing in cultured meat, is developing biomass cells utilized in 3D printers to fabricate meat products. In October, they announced a collaboration with Sound Ventures to expedite their production capabilities. The company has successfully 3D-printed a 4-ounce steak composed entirely of cultivated cells, incorporating plant-based proteins and cell-cultured fat, as detailed by co-founder Omri Schanin. He emphasized that the inclusion of fat significantly improves the aroma, texture, flavor, and overall mouthfeel.
Currently, MeaTech is capable of producing nearly 1 kilogram of cultivated chicken fat biomass in a single production cycle. The creation of the steak requires 10 days from the point of cell thawing. Despite the perception that 3D printing is a slow process, Schanin indicated that the company is developing a multi-nozzle system capable of printing a substantial volume of steaks in under a minute.MeaTech intends to establish a pilot plant in Belgium in 2022 and commence large-scale production of its cell-cultured fat. Their strategy involves selling this product to plant-based food manufacturers seeking to enhance the flavor and texture of their offerings, such as chicken nuggets and vegetarian sausages.
“Recent developments across the industry serve as validation of the technologies being pursued by numerous companies,” Schanin stated. “While approaches differ, a common thread unites us: the collective effort to demonstrate the feasibility of mass production for our respective products in the future.”
Investment Landscape in Cell-Cultured Meat: Backers and Hesitants
Significant investment activity indicates that numerous traditional venture capital firms and established protein producers recognize potential within the cell-cultured meat industry.
Cargill and Tyson Ventures, for instance, both made investments in UPSIDE Foods four years ago. They were joined by prominent firms like SoftBank, Norwest, Temasek, Threshold Ventures, and Finistere.
Future Meat Technologies has also attracted investment from Tyson Ventures, alongside ADM Ventures, demonstrating broad industry interest.
New Age Meats secured funding from Hanwha Solutions, based in South Korea, and existing investors including SOSV’s IndieBio, TechU Ventures, ff VC, and Siddhi Capital.
Beyond venture capital, Eat Just benefits from backing from governmental entities such as the Qatar Investment Authority and the Singapore Food Agency.
However, Joško Bobanović, a partner at Sofinnova Partners, revealed to TechCrunch that his firm, a long-standing European venture group, has yet to invest in this sector.
While his firm has evaluated relevant technologies, they haven’t identified a standout company, stating they haven’t found “the princess among the frogs.”
Bobanović’s evaluation criteria for cell-cultured meat companies include their position on the cost curve and the key milestones achieved in reducing production costs to an acceptable level.
He also expressed uncertainty regarding consumer acceptance, suggesting that price reductions alone won’t guarantee market success; widespread product trials will be crucial.
“Our perspectives diverge at this point,” he explained. “We’ve observed startups focusing on cost reduction, but their reliance on growth factors or growth media presents challenges.”
He believes that further maturation of the ecosystem is necessary to achieve affordable production costs, as price sensitivity in this area is currently limited.
Other notable investors in the field include At One Ventures, True Ventures, and Blue Horizon.
Friederike Grosse-Holz, a director at Blue Horizon with expertise in bioinformatics and protein biochemistry, emphasized to TechCrunch that the technology remains in its nascent stages, particularly for companies aiming to produce whole cuts of meat.
She likened cultured meat to “a moonshot” at present, but anticipates a shift as price parity is approached within the next decade, alongside the introduction of hybrid products – those combining cultured cells with traditional proteins.
Grosse-Holz, a contributor to a BCG/Blue Horizon report, stated their research predicts that by 2035, 11% of global consumption of meat, seafood, eggs, and dairy will originate from alternative sources.
This timeline aligns with projections for achieving full parity in taste, texture, and price with conventionally produced animal proteins.
“The optimal technology remains unclear,” she noted. “Variations will arise in cell feeding methods, growth techniques – whether cells are bonded or in suspension – and consequently, the required equipment.”
She concluded that the presence of numerous players in the field is beneficial, fostering a diverse and competitive landscape.
The Trajectory of Cultivated Meat
Josh Tetrick, of Eat Just, identifies regulatory processes as a primary obstacle to expanding production capabilities.
He notes that approval has only been granted in a single nation, a situation far removed from the widespread impact the industry desires.
Numerous companies within this sector are currently collaborating with both the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to secure the necessary approvals for offering cell-cultured meat within the United States.
Regulatory Progress and Future Outlook
The USDA’s request for public feedback regarding the labeling of products created through this innovative method, initiated in September, is viewed by many founders as a constructive development.
According to Murray of the Good Food Institute (GFI), this represents “a promising sign,” with the expectation that other nations will establish similar regulations following the U.S.’s lead.
Upon receiving regulatory clearance, UPSIDE Foods intends to commence production on a limited scale, initially distributing its products through restaurant partnerships as it prepares its larger commercial facility.
Timeline for Commercial Availability
Valeti anticipates a construction and operational timeline of several years for the larger facility, but remains confident that UPSIDE Foods’ offerings could reach supermarket shelves within two to five years.
The prediction of cell-cultured meat reaching mainstream consumption by 2030 remains plausible, according to Grosse-Holz of Blue Horizon.
She believes that further technological advancements are required, particularly for companies focused on producing whole cuts of meat.
Key Factors for Success
Ultimately, success will hinge on factors such as production cost, consumer acceptance, and widespread adoption.
“This is not a revolution, it is a transformation, and it is going to take time,” Grosse-Holz emphasizes.
Food carries significant emotional weight, and altering dietary habits can be challenging.
However, a shift in perspective regarding food production, encompassing climate considerations, animal welfare, and ethical concerns, could facilitate a transition that allows consumers to maintain their culinary preferences while contributing to a more sustainable future for the planet, animals, and humanity.