Chemical Engineering April 2022 - 16

tle), " not everyone needs to become
vegan " to contribute to a sustainable
diet, says Bühler's Roberts.
FIGURE 2. This diagram shows the projected timeline for cultured food products
GFI
try Report: Cultivated Meat, " which
was published last year (the 2021
report is expected to be published
this month).
Some of the new cultured-meat
companies were formed and are
headed by biotechnologists and former
cardiologists, because the technology
used has roots in stem-cell
research and treating heart patients.
Cultured meat is real meat that is
grown from animal cells. Unlike the
meat, fish, chicken and pork found
in grocery shops, no animals need to
be slaughtered to produce cultured
meat. Instead, cells taken from living
animals are grown in bioreactors or
cultivators (Figure 1) at high densities
and volumes. The cells are fed
an oxygen-rich cell culture medium
made up of nutrients, such as amino
acids, glucose, vitamins, and inorganic
salts, and supplemented with
proteins and other growth factors,
according to GFI's website.
Changes in the medium composition,
often in tandem with cues from
a scaffolding structure, trigger immature
cells to differentiate into the
skeletal muscle, fat and connective
tissues that make up meat. The differentiated
cells are then harvested,
prepared and packaged into final
products. This process is expected
to take between two and eight
weeks, depending on what kind of
meat is being cultivated, according
to GFI.
Although cultured meat and seafood
has not yet been approved for
human consumption by regulators
around the world - with the exception
of Singapore - there have been
countless tasting events in California,
16
Israel and elsewhere, and some restaurants
offer dishes on their menu
for customers willing to sign waivers
regarding unknown health issues associated
with such products.
While there are many uncertainties
related to government approvals, labeling
of future products that contain
cultured meat, and scale up of production,
there are many arguments
in favor of this new source of meat.
Cultured meat is sometimes referred
to as " clean meat, " because it is produced
under sterile conditions and is
free of hormones and other chemicals
that can be found in some products
from traditional livestock farming
or seafood from polluted lakes
or oceans, not to mention the risk of
pandemics, antibody resistance and
food insecurity. From a moral perspective,
no animals need to be sacrificed.
Perhaps the best argument in
favor of cultured meat is the sustainability
aspect referred to earlier.
The first lifecycle analysis that uses
primary data from multiple culturedmeat
companies and associated
companies along the supply chain
was published in February 2021 by
CE Delft (the Netherlands; www.cedelft.eu).
The study found that significant
reductions in CO2 equivalent
(CO2eq) emissions (by up to 92%),
land usage (by up to 95%) and water
usage (by 78%) can be achieved for
all types of cultured meats - some
more than others - when compared
to conventional farming methods. So
even though the environmental benefits
of plant-based meats are greatest
(99% reduction in CO2eq emissions
for plant-based beef compared
to conventional beef from beef catFirst
pilot plants operating
Although the cultured meat industry
is still very young, the first mini and
pilot-scale production plants are now
starting up and operating, with further
scaleup anticipated soon (Figure
2). The following is a brief overview of
some of the activity within the past
six to eight months.
Last June, Future Meat Technologies
(Rehovot, Israel; www.futuremeat.com)
opened its first pilot plant
(Figure 3), which has a capacity to
produce cultured chicken, pork and
lamb products, all produced without
the use of animal serum or genetic
modification. The company says
its process enables fast production
cycles that are about 20 times faster
than traditional animal agriculture,
while using 99% less land and 96%
less water, as well as generating 80%
less greenhouse-gas emissions. The
company is also working on the production
of beef, and plans to bring
products into the market this year, as
well as " scouting several locations in
the U.S. for its projected large-scale
production facility, " the company
says. In December 2021, Future Meat
raised $347 million in Series B round
financing, which was co-led by ADM
Ventures, the investment arm of the
Archer-Daniels-Midlands Co. (ADM;
Chicago, Ill.; www.adm.com).
According to Future Meat, its
proprietary technology is based on
stainless-steel fermenters that continuously
remove
waste
products
generated by " immortal " tissue cells,
thereby maintaining a constant physiological
environment that supports
rapid, natural, proliferation of animal
cells. This connective-tissue method
has been shown to be more robust
and efficient than others using stem
cells, and its rejuvenating fermenters
can recycle over 70% of the nutrients,
the company says.
Also last June, Wildtype Foods
Calif.; www.wild(San
Francisco,
typefoods.com)
started operations
at its first pilot plant in San Francisco,
Calif. for the production of salmon
products. The facility also features a
sushi bar (tasting room) for visitors.
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHEMENGONLINE.COM
APRIL 2022
https://www.future-meat.com https://www.future-meat.com http://www.adm.com https://cedelft.eu/ https://cedelft.eu/ https://www.wildtypefoods.com/ https://www.wildtypefoods.com/ http://WWW.CHEMENGONLINE.COM
Chemical Engineering April 2022

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