Resources

Academic Research

The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2024

This report is the annual global monitoring report for Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2 targets 2.1 and 2.2 – to end hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition in all its forms. It presents the latest updated numbers on hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition, as well as new estimates on the affordability of a healthy diet. Previous editions have highlighted several major drivers of food insecurity and malnutrition, specifically conflict, climate variability and extremes, and economic slowdowns and downturns. They have also proposed a policy portfolio to address these drivers. However, achieving the necessary scale of intervention will require adequate financing.

2024

Meat substitutes: Resource demands and environmental footprints

The modern food system is characterized with high environmental impact, which is in many cases associated with increased rates of animal production and overconsumption. The adoption of alternatives to meat proteins (insects, plants, mycoprotein, microalgae, cultured meat, etc.) might potentially influence the environmental impact and human health in a positive or negative way but could also trigger indirect impacts with higher consumption rates.

2023

A review on mycoprotein: History, nutritional composition, production methods, and health benefits

Worldwide, the demand for healthier protein is rapidly increasing due to the population growth and health concerns associated with the consumption of red meat.

2023

Repeated and long-term cryopreservation of primary bovine myogenic cells to maintain quality in biomimetic cultured meat

Cultured meat produced using cell culture technology can potentially alleviate many of the ethical, environmental, and public health concerns associated with conventional livestock meat production. The industrialization of cultured meat for wide-spread adoption requires new methods to efficiently collect high-quality cells and to preserve their cell quality. Cryopreservation is a widely used technique to enable the long-term storage of cells without causing severe damage.

2023

Aggregating in vitro-grown adipocytes to produce macroscale cell-cultured fat tissue with tunable lipid compositions for food applications

We present a method of producing bulk cell-cultured fat tissue for food applications. Mass transport limitations (nutrients, oxygen, waste diffusion) of macroscale 3D tissue culture are circumvented by initially culturing murine or porcine adipocytes in 2D, after which bulk fat tissue is produced by mechanically harvesting and aggregating the lipid-filled adipocytes into 3D constructs using alginate or transglutaminase binders. The 3D fat tissues were visually similar to fat tissue harvested from animals, with matching textures based on uniaxial compression tests.

2023

Continuous fish muscle cell line with capacity for myogenic and adipogenic-like phenotypes

Cell-cultivated fish offers the potential for a more ethical, sustainable, and safe seafood system. However, fish cell culture is relatively understudied in comparison to mammalian cells. Here, we established and characterized a continuous Atlantic mackerel (Scomber scombrus) skeletal muscle cell line (“Mack” cells). The cells were isolated from muscle biopsies of fresh-caught fish, with separate isolations performed from two distinct fish. Mack1 cells (cells from the first isolation) were cultured for over a year and subcultured over 130 times.

2023

Techno-economic modeling and assessment of cultivated meat: Impact of production bioreactor scale

Increases in global meat demands cannot be sustainably met with current methods of livestock farming, which has a substantial impact on greenhouse gas emissions, land use, water consumption, and farm animal welfare. Cultivated meat is a rapidly advancing technology that produces meat products by proliferating and differentiating animal stem cells in large bioreactors, avoiding conventional live-animal farming.

2023

Spontaneous immortalization of chicken fibroblasts generates stable, high-yield cell lines for serum-free production of cultured meat

Cellular agriculture could meet growing demand for animal products, but yields are typically low and regulatory bodies restrict genetic modification for cultured meat production. Here we demonstrate the spontaneous immortalization and genetic stability of fibroblasts derived from several chicken breeds. Cell lines were adapted to grow as single-cell suspensions using serum-free culture medium, reaching densities of 108 × 106 cells per ml in continuous culture, corresponding to yields of 36% w/v.

2023

Food production in space from CO2 using microbial electrosynthesis

The current food method in space is launching prepackaged food which is costly and unsustainable. Alternatives include growing crops and microalgae single cell protein (SCP) using artificial light photosynthesis, which are energy inefficient. Prepackaged food and microalgae food were compared to microbial electrosynthesis of acetic acid (MES-AA).

2022

Meat protein alternatives: Opportunities and challenges for food systems’ transformation

Meat alternatives are attracting private investment and interest from the research community as possible solutions to meet the growing global demand for proteins in a sustainable, ethical, and healthy way. Using a food systems lens, this report investigates the opportunities and challenges associated with three meat alternatives: plant-based, insects and cultured meat. The analysis is based primarily on a literature review, which is complemented by an illustrative scenario using the OECD-FAO Aglink-Cosimo model.

2022

Environmental impacts along food supply chains

Food systems exert major pressures on the environment. This paper reviews what is known and not known about environmental impacts along food supply chains, looking at the contribution of different stages of the supply chain, the impact of different products, heterogeneity among producers, and the role of international trade. This review shows that most environmental impacts in food supply chains occur through land use change or at the stage of agricultural production. Livestock (especially ruminant livestock) has a higher footprint than plant-based food.

2022

Cultured meat: creative solutions for a cell biological problem

Cultured meat is an emerging technology that could address environmental, health, and animal welfare concerns associated with meat production. Development of cultured meat represents an exciting challenge for cell biologists and engineers, but it requires effective, open approaches for knowledge sharing to establish a fertile scientific field alongside a competitive industry.

2022

Recombinant production of growth factors for application in cell culture

Culturing eukaryotic cells has widespread applications in research and industry, including the emerging field of cell-cultured meat production colloquially referred to as “cellular agriculture”. These applications are often restricted by the high cost of growth medium necessary for cell growth. Mitogenic protein growth factors (GFs) are essential components of growth medium and account for upwards of 90% of the total costs.

2022

Dual-Crosslinked Alginate-Based Hydrogels with Tunable Mechanical Properties for Cultured Meat

Cultured meat refers to the production of animal tissue by utilizing the same techniques as tissue engineering through cell culture. Various biomaterials have been designed to serve as in vitro supports for cell viability, growth, and migration. In this study, visible light and dual-crosslinked alginate hydrogels were designed to enable control of the physical and mechanical properties needed for the fabrication of cultured meat scaffolds.

2022

A Beefy-R culture medium: replacing albumin with rapeseed protein isolates

The development of cost-effective serum-free media is essential for the economic viability of cultured meat. A key challenge facing this goal is high-cost recombinant albumin that is necessary in some available serum-free media formulations. As such, there is substantial interest in finding albumin alternatives which are low-cost, effective, scalable, sustainable, and suitable for food applications.

2022

Bioengineered Lab-Grown Meat-like Constructs through 3D Bioprinting of Antioxidative Protein Hydrolysates

Lab-grown bovine meat analogues are emerging alternatives to animal sacrifices for cultured meat production. The most challenging aspect of the production process is the rapid proliferation of cells and establishment of the desired 3D structure for mass production.

2022

Emulsion-templated microparticles with tunable stiffness and topology: Applications as edible microcarriers for cultured meat

Cultured meat has potential to diversify methods for protein production, but innovations in production efficiency will be required to make cultured meat a feasible protein alternative. Microcarriers provide a strategy to culture sufficient volumes of adherent cells in a bioreactor that are required for meat products. However, cell culture on inedible microcarriers involves extra downstream processing to dissociate cells prior to consumption. Here, we present edible microcarriers that can support the expansion and differentiation of myogenic cells in a single bioreactor system.

2022

What’s the Beef? The FDA, USDA, and Cell-Cultured Meat

Over the past ten years, administrative law scholarship has increasingly focused on interactions between multiple agencies. As part of this trend, most scholars have called for policymakers to combine multiple agencies, rather than rely on a single agency, to solve policy problems. The literature in this area espouses the benefits of shared regulatory space. But very little of this scholarship addresses when shared jurisdiction is problematic.

2022

Techno-Economic Modelling and Assessment of Cultivated Meat: Impact of Production Bioreactor Scale

Increases in global meat demands cannot be sustainably met with current methods of livestock farming, which has a substantial impact on greenhouse gas emissions, land use, and water consumption. Cultivated meat is a rapidly advancing technology that produces meat products by proliferating and differentiating animal stem cells in large bioreactors, avoiding conventional live-animal farming.

2022

Macroscale Adipose Tissue from Cellular Aggregates: A Simplified Method of Mass Producing Cell-Cultured Fat for Food Applications

We present a method of producing bulk cell-cultured fat tissue for food applications. Mass transport limitations (nutrients, oxygen, waste diffusion) of macroscale 3D tissue culture are circumvented by initially culturing murine or porcine adipocytes in 2D, after which bulk fat is produced by mechanically harvesting and aggregating the lipid-filled adipocytes into 3D fats using alginate or transglutaminase binders. The 3D fats were visually similar to fat tissue harvested from animals, with matching textures based on uniaxial compression tests.

2022

An Edible, Decellularized Plant Derived Cell Carrier for Lab Grown Meat

Rapidly expanding skeletal muscle satellite cells with cost-effective methods have been presented as a solution for meeting the growing global demand for meat. A common strategy for scaling cell proliferation employs microcarriers, small beads designed to support anchorage-dependent cells in suspension-style bioreactors. No carrier has yet been marketed for the cultivation of lab-grown meat. The objective of this study was to demonstrate a rapid, food safe, decellularization procedure to yield cell-free extracellular matrix scaffolds and evaluate them as cell carriers for lab grown meat.

2022

Chitosan‑sodium alginate-collagen/gelatin three-dimensional edible scaffolds for building a structured model for cell cultured meat

Cell cultured meat (CCM) production is an innovative technology that does not depend on livestock farming practices to produce meat. The construction of structured CCM requires a three-dimensional (3D) scaffold to mimic the extracellular matrix to provide mechanical support for the cells. Furthermore, the 3D scaffolds should be edible and have good biocompatibility and tissue-like texture.

2022

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

Cell-cultured meat offers the potential for a more sustainable, ethical, resilient, and healthy food system. However, research and development has been hindered by the lack of serum-free media that enable the robust expansion of relevant cells (e.g., muscle satellite cells) over multiple passages. Recently, a low-cost serum-free media (B8) was described for pluripotent stem cells. Here, B8 is adapted for bovine satellite cells through the addition of a single component, recombinant albumin, which renders it suitable for long-term satellite cell expansion without sacrificing myogenicity.

2022

Projected environmental benefits of replacing beef with microbial protein

Ruminant meat provides valuable protein to humans, but livestock production has many negative environmental impacts, especially in terms of deforestation, greenhouse gas emissions, water use and eutrophication. In addition to a dietary shift towards plant-based diets, imitation products, including plant-based meat, cultured meat and fermentation-derived microbial protein (MP), have been proposed as means to reduce the externalities of livestock production.

2022

Exploring factors determining German consumers’ intention to eat meat alternatives

A growing number of consumers indicate that they are reducing the amount of meat they eat or are completely abstaining from meat consumption. Some of them have partly shifted to meat substitutes. In order to gain insights into the factors determining the decision to eat or not to eat meat alternatives, the present study extends the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) with three factors: animal welfare, environmental and health concerns.

2022

3D-printable plant protein-enriched scaffolds for cultivated meat development

Cultivated meat harnesses tissue engineering (TE) concepts to create sustainable, edible muscle tissues, for addressing the rising meat product demands and their global consequences. As 3D-printing is a promising method for creating thick and complex structures, two plant-protein-enriched scaffolding compositions were primarily assessed in our work as 3D-printable platforms for bovine satellite cells (BSC) maturation.

2022

Market potential of new plant-based protein alternatives: Insights from four US consumer experiments

This article reports results from four studies determining the US market potential for plant-based meat alternatives in different contexts and settings. The first study shows that a pair-wise choice between beef and a plant-based alternative was not significantly affected by the presence of nutrition facts panels or ingredient lists. A second study, framed as a food service meal choice, reveals that the introduction of a plant-based burger has roughly the same effect on beef sales as does the presence of a chicken wrap.

2022

Are consumers willing to pay for in-vitro meat? An investigation of naming effects

Currently, there is an ongoing debate about whether ‘in-vitro meat’ (IVM) should be labelled and communicated differently from conventional meat. Naming and labelling IVM can have significant implications and consequences for consumers’ acceptance of this new product as well as for future labelling policies. We provide, for the first time, information on how the use of different terms (i.e., ‘cultured’, ‘lab-grown’ and ‘artificial’) shapes US consumers’ preferences and marginal willingness to pay for IVM.

2022

Bioengineering Outlook on Cultivated Meat Production

Cultured meat (also referred to as cultivated meat or cell-based meat)—CM—is fabricated through the process of cellular agriculture (CA), which entails application of bioengineering, i.e., tissue engineering (TE) principles to the production of food.

2022

Review and analysis of studies on sustainability of cultured meat

Protein alternatives are crucial for a sustainable food production in future. Cultured meat is presented as a good alternative for consumers who want to be more sustainable but do not wish to change their diet. To validate this sustainability claim, this report evaluates four LCA studies on cultured meat.

2022

Rapid global phaseout of animal agriculture has the potential to stabilize greenhouse gas levels for 30 years and offset 68 percent of CO2 emissions this century

Animal agriculture contributes significantly to global warming through ongoing emissions of the potent greenhouse gases methane and nitrous oxide, and displacement of biomass carbon on the land used to support livestock. However, because estimates of the magnitude of the effect of ending animal agriculture often focus on only one factor, the full potential benefit of a more radical change remains underappreciated.

2022

Recombinant production of growth factors for application in cell culture

2022

Muscle-derived fibro-adipogenic progenitor cells for production of cultured bovine adipose tissue

Cultured meat is an emergent technology with the potential for significant environmental and animal welfare benefits. Accurate mimicry of traditional meat requires fat tissue; a key contributor to both the flavour and texture of meat. Here, we show that fibro-adipogenic progenitor cells (FAPs) are present in bovine muscle, and are transcriptionally and immunophenotypically distinct from satellite cells. These two cell types can be purified from a single muscle sample using a simple fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) strategy.

2022

A Comparative Study on the Taste Characteristics of Satellite Cell Cultured Meat Derived from Chicken and Cattle Muscles

This study investigated the amino acid and nucleotide-related compound composition and taste characteristics of cultured muscle tissue (CMT) obtained by culturing satellite cells isolated from chicken and cattle and compared them to those of traditional meat (TM). The content of all amino acids except valine and tyrosine was significantly different between CMT and TM (p<0.05).

2022

Would you eat a burger made in a petri dish? Why people feel disgusted by cultured meat☆

Cultured meat—real animal flesh produced from in vitro cell cultures, without the need to raise animals—is now poised to become publicly available. Compared to conventional meat, cultured meat offers environmental benefits in its production using less water and yielding fewer greenhouse gas emissions. However, many people find cultured meat too disgusting to eat.

2022

A serum-free media formulation for cultured meat production supports bovine satellite cell differentiation in the absence of serum starvation

Cultured meat production requires the robust differentiation of satellite cells into mature muscle fibres without the use of animal-derived components. Current protocols induce myogenic differentiation in vitro through serum starvation, that is, an abrupt reduction in serum concentration.

2022

Ovalbumin production using Trichoderma reesei culture and low-carbon energy could mitigate the environmental impacts of chicken-egg-derived ovalbumin

Ovalbumin (OVA) produced using the fungus Trichoderma reesei (Tr-OVA) could become a sustainable replacement for chicken egg white protein powder—a widely used ingredient in the food industry.

2022

Risks and benefits of consuming edible seaweeds

Recent interest in seaweeds as a source of macronutrients, micronutrients, and bioactive components has highlighted prospective applications within the functional food and nutraceutical industries, with impetus toward the alleviation of risk factors associated with noncommunicable diseases such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.

2022

Perspectives on scaling production of adipose tissue for food applications

With rising global demand for food proteins and significant environmental impact associated with conventional animal agriculture, it is important to develop sustainable alternatives to supplement existing meat production.

2021

High yield cultivation of marine macroalga Ulva lactuca in a multi-tubular airlift photobioreactor: A scalable model for quality feedstock

Conventional off-shore and on-shore cultivation methods for marine macroalgae are both inadequate to pitch macroalgae as scalable renewable feedstock that can be grown across all coastal locations.

2021

Scaffolding Biomaterials for 3D Cultivated Meat: Prospects and Challenges

Cultivating meat from stem cells rather than by raising animals is a promising solution to concerns about the negative externalities of meat production. For cultivated meat to fully mimic conventional meat's organoleptic and nutritional properties, innovations in scaffolding technology are required. Many scaffolding technologies are already developed for use in biomedical tissue engineering.

2021

Impact of Plant-Based Meat Alternatives on Cattle Inventories and Greenhouse Gas Emissions

New plant-based meat alternatives that aim to mimic the taste and texture of beef could have significant economic, environmental, and animal welfare impacts if they replace animal-based meats and reduce livestock production.

2021

Isolation and Characterization of Tissue Resident CD29-Positive Progenitor Cells in Livestock to Generate a Three-Dimensional Meat Bud

The current process of meat production using livestock has significant effects on the global environment, including high emissions of greenhouse gases. In recent years, cultured meat has attracted attention as a way to acquire animal proteins. However, the lack of markers that isolate proliferating cells from bovine tissues and the complex structure of the meat make it difficult to culture meat in a dish. In this study, we screened 246 cell-surface antibodies by fluorescence-activated cell sorting for their capacity to form colonies and their suitability to construct spheroid “meat buds”.

2021

Consumer preferences for farm-raised meat, lab-grown meat, and plant-based meat alternatives: Does information or brand matter?

Despite rising interest in and sales of innovative non-animal-based protein sources, there remains a lack of information about consumer demand for these new foods and their ultimate market potential. This study reports the results of a nationwide survey of more than 1800 U.S. consumers who completed a choice experiment in which they selected among conventional beef and three alternative burger patties, (lab-grown, plant-based with pea protein, and plant-based with animal-like protein) at different prices.

2021

Engineered whole cut meat-like tissue by the assembly of cell fibers using tendon-gel integrated bioprinting

With the current interest in cultured meat, mammalian cell-based meat has mostly been unstructured. There is thus still a high demand for artificial steak-like meat. We demonstrate in vitro construction of engineered steak-like tissue assembled of three types of bovine cell fibers (muscle, fat, and vessel). Because actual meat is an aligned assembly of the fibers connected to the tendon for the actions of contraction and relaxation, tendon-gel integrated bioprinting was developed to construct tendon-like gels.

2021

Food systems are responsible for a third of global anthropogenic GHG emissions

We have developed a new global food emissions database (EDGAR-FOOD) estimating greenhouse gas (GHG; CO2, CH4, N2O, fluorinated gases) emissions for the years 1990–2015, building on the Emissions Database of Global Atmospheric Research (EDGAR), complemented with land use/land-use change emissions from the FAOSTAT emissions database.

2021

Scale-up economics for cultured meat

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.

2021

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

2021

Life Cycle Assessment of Burger Patties Produced with Extruded Meat Substitutes

Extruded meat substitutes, due to their high protein content, meat-like texture and meat processing compatibility, are very popular as the main ingredient of plant-based burger patties. The extrusion of plant-based proteins can be performed by two technologies: high moisture extrudates (HME) and low moisture texturized vegetable proteins (TVP). The largest difference between the technologies relates to the moisture content prevailing inside the extrusion barrel. The extrusion processes also vary in their throughput, and yields.

2021

How Do Consumers Perceive Cultured Meat in Croatia, Greece, and Spain?

The meat production industry is one of the leading contributors of greenhouse gas emissions. Cultured meat presents itself as a potential eco- and animal-friendly meat substitute which has the potential to eradicate animal cruelty and reduce both the environmental footprint and the risk of zoonotic illnesses, while delivering a nutrient-dense product. The purpose of this study was to investigate how consumers perceive cultured meat and if the frequency of meat consumption is related to their intention of trying or purchasing cultured meat.

2021

Decellularized spinach: An edible scaffold for laboratory-grown meat

It is projected that by the year 2050, there will be insufficient land suitable for agriculture to feed the world. Cellular agriculture has the potential to produce meat that replicates the structure of traditionally produced meat while minimizing the land needed. There is a need for an edible scaffold suitable for the growth of animal muscle. This study showed that decellularizing spinach leaves produced an edible scaffold that has a vascular network that could potentially maintain the viability of primary bovine satellite cells as they develop into meat.

2021

Cultivating Multidisciplinarity: Manufacturing and Sensing Challenges in Cultured Meat Production

United Nations estimates that by the year 2050, the population of nearly 10 billion people will have 70% higher food demands than the current food systems can provide for. This needs to be observed in the context of the on-going climate change and related negative effects of the traditional agriculture. Conventional livestock-based value chains contribute to the high greenhouse gas emissions. Meat cultivation via cellular agriculture holds great promise as a method for future food production.

2021

Are Plant-Based Analogues Replacing Cow’s Milk in the American Diet?

Retail sales of fluid cow’s milk are decreasing while those of plant-based milk analogues are increasing. In this study, we model the relationship between households’ purchases of both types of products and perform simulations. Results show that growing consumer demand for plant-based products is causing cow’s milk sales to decline somewhat faster than otherwise. However, plant-based products are not a primary driver of sales trends for cow’s milk. The decline in cow’s milk sales is substantially greater than the rise in sales of plant-based analogues.

2021

The Myth of Cultured Meat: A Review

To satisfy the increasing demand for food by the growing human population, cultured meat (also called in vitro, artificial or lab-grown meat) is presented by its advocates as a good alternative for consumers who want to be more responsible but do not wish to change their diet.

2020

Engineering carotenoid production in mammalian cells for nutritionally enhanced cell-cultured foods

Metabolic engineering of mammalian cells has to-date focused primarily on biopharmaceutical protein production or the manipulation of native metabolic processes towards therapeutic aims. However, significant potential exists for expanding these techniques to diverse applications by looking across the taxonomic tree to bioactive metabolites not synthesized in animals. Namely, cross-taxa metabolic engineering of mammalian cells could offer value in applications ranging fromfood and nutrition to regenerative medicine and gene therapy.

2020

Plant-based and cell-based approaches to meat production

Advances in farming technology and intensification of animal agriculture increase the cost-efficiency and production volume of meat. Thus, in developed nations, meat is relatively inexpensive and accessible. While beneficial for consumer satisfaction, intensive meat production inflicts negative externalities on public health, the environment and animal welfare. In response, groups within academia and industry are working to improve the sensory characteristics of plant-based meat and pursuing nascent approaches through cellular agriculture methodology (i.e., cell-based meat).

2020

Analysis and valuation of the health and climate change cobenefits of dietary change

What we eat greatly influences our personal health and the environment we all share. Recent analyses have highlighted the likely dual health and environmental benefits of reducing the fraction of animal-sourced foods in our diets. Here, we couple for the first time, to our knowledge, a region-specific global health model based on dietary and weight-related risk factors with emissions accounting and economic valuation modules to quantify the linked health and environmental consequences of dietary changes.

2020

Barriers and facilitators towards adopting a more plant-based diet in a sample of Danish consumers

Replacement of animal-based products with plant-based products promotes environmental sustainability and reduces the risk of cardiovascular diseases and type 2 diabetes. Consumers are aware of recommendations towards healthier and more sustainable food consumption, but often they do not follow them. The aim of this study was to examine barriers and facilitators towards adopting a more plant-based diet among Danish consumers. Data was collected through an online survey during October 2017. The topics in the questionnaire was based on recent findings from published literature on the subject.

2020

Reducing food’s environmental impacts through producers and consumers

Food’s environmental impacts are created by millions of diverse producers. To identify solutions that are effective under this heterogeneity, we consolidated data covering five environmental indicators; 38,700 farms; and 1600 processors, packaging types, and retailers. Impact can vary 50-fold among producers of the same product, creating substantial mitigation opportunities. However, mitigation is complicated by trade-offs, multiple ways for producers to achieve low impacts, and interactions throughout the supply chain. Producers have limits on how far they can reduce impacts.

2020

European Markets for Cultured Meat: A Comparison of Germany and France

The negative impacts of meat consumption for animals, the environment, and human health are more pressing than ever. Although some evidence points to an ongoing reduction in meat consumption in Europe, consumers are overall unwilling to cut their meat consumption in a substantial way. The present study investigates dietary identities and perceptions of cultured meat in nationally representative samples from Germany (n = 1000) and France (n = 1000).

2020

Scale-Up Technologies for the Manufacture of Adherent Cells

Great importance is being given to the impact our food supply chain and consumers’ food habits are having on the environment, human health, and animal welfare. One of the latest developments aiming at positively changing the food ecosystem is represented by cultured meat. This form of cellular agriculture has the objective to generate slaughter-free meat products starting from the cultivation of few cells harvested from the animal tissue of interest. As a consequence, a large number of cells has to be generated at a reasonable cost.

2020

Industry Reports

Horizons: 2023 Alternative Proteins

CRB introduces its newest Horizons report, exploring the alternative proteins industry in 2023 and beyond.

2023

Food safety aspects of cell-based food

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO), has developed the present document to engage with respective Members and relevant stakeholders by proactively sharing the current knowledge to identify concrete ways to inform consumers and all other stakeholders about the food safety considerations for cell-based food products.

2023

Our Future Proteins - A Diversity of Perspectives

On 7 March 2023, the open-access book Our Future Proteins has been launched. In this book, 100+ experts present their views on the transition to sustainable protein production and consumption. Their visions cover a wide range of transition directions, from radically rethinking protein production systems to a pragmatic approach balancing global and local supply chains. By allowing a diversity of (sometimes divergent) perspectives, the book provides a snapshot of a dynamic transition in progress. Four of the editors are associated with Wageningen University & Research.

2023

State of Global Fermentation Capacity

This report, published by Synonym, offers new and valuable details on types of facilities by geography, bioreactor sizes, product expertise and more.

2023

Oceans and Biodiversity Impact: Phase 2 Sustainable Aquafeed Engagement Update and FAIRR’s Action on Fisheries

This report is the latest update on FAIRR’s global investor engagement on sustainable aquaculture, which aims to encourage the world’s largest salmon companies to develop a strategic, science-based approach to diversifying feed ingredient sources. The ultimate goal of the engagement is to better manage ESG risks associated with sourcing wild forage fish and soy.

2022

Cellular Agriculture - An Opportunity to Diversify Australia’s Food System

Australia has an opportunity to tap into a global protein market worth US$930 billion by 2035 by investing and scaling up its cellular agriculture capability, a new report has found. The first assessment of the field’s potential in Australia is outlined in a white paper released by Cellular Agriculture Australia, that shows the country is well placed to be a global player in this game-changing technology.

2022

The Untapped Climate Opportunity in Alternative Proteins

BCG's latest research shows that consumers are embracing alternative proteins and that protein transformation is one of the best tools available to combat the climate crisis.

2022

The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2022

Blue Transformation is a vision for transforming aquatic-based food systems as a recognized solution for food security and environmental well-being.

2022

Putting British success on the menu: Time for a UK alternative proteins strategy

This report discuss the potentially wide-ranging benefits of alternative proteins but recognises the significant barriers that stand in the way. Many of these barriers are amenable to proactive, long-term policymaking. However, at present, UK policy in this space is fragmented and underdeveloped. A failure to act soon risks the UK falling behind international competitors, foregoing opportunities for British businesses, for attracting overseas businesses and investors, and hindering the transition to greener diets.

2022

World Seafood Map 2022: Seafood Trade Keeps Growing From Strength to Strength

Global seafood demand rebounded strongly post-Covid-19, adding USD 13bn of trade in 2021, driven by growing demand for high-value seafood in the US, EU, and China.

2022

The Politics of Protein

A major new report by IPES-Food sheds light on misleading generalisations that dominate public discussion about meat and protein, and warns of the risks of falling for meat techno-fixes.

2022

Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change

The Working Group III report provides an updated global assessment of climate change mitigation progress and pledges, and examines the sources of global emissions. It explains developments in emission reduction and mitigation efforts, assessing the impact of national climate pledges in relation to long-term emissions goals.

2022

Global report on the state of dietary data

This joint FAO and Intake publication is the first ever Global report on the state of dietary data. The purpose of the report is to take stock and celebrate the collection and use of dietary data in LMICs, while generating further momentum for investment in dietary surveys.

2022

Thinking about the future of food safety

Agrifood systems are undergoing a transformation with the aim to provide safer, more affordable, and healthier diets for all, produced in a sustainable manner while delivering just and equitable livelihoods: a key to achieving the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. However, this transformation needs to be executed in the global context of major challenges facing the food and agriculture sectors, with drivers such as climate change, population growth, urbanization, and natural resources depletion compounding these challenges.

2022

IPCC Sixth Assessment Report

The Working Group II contribution to the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report assesses the impacts of climate change, looking at ecosystems, biodiversity, and human communities at global and regional levels. It also reviews vulnerabilities and the capacities and limits of the natural world and human societies to adapt to climate change.

2022

Industry Reinfected - Emerging Disease Risks and Implications for Policy and Finance

This working paper provides an update to FAIRR’s ‘An Industry Infected’ report, looking at 60 of the largest protein producers’ performance against a set of indicators related to emerging disease risks. The results show that too little has been done since our original report in 2020, with 63% of the 60 companies still ranked as “High Risk” (or worst performers) in the ranking. However, there is some improvement from our report last year when 73% of companies were ranked as “High Risk”. The paper also aims to shed light on policy developments that aim to prevent future zoonotic diseases.

2022

State of the Seaweed Industry 2022

Phyconomy's first annual State of the Seaweed Industry report shines a light on the trends and events of the past year in Europe, the Americas, and Oceania.

2022

Cellular Agriculture: Canada's $12.5 Billion Opportunity in Food Innovation

Led by Ontario Genomics and developed and written in partnership with the Food and Agriculture Institute at the University of the Fraser Valley, this report features extensive stakeholder input and an economic analysis, providing critical considerations for Canada's emerging cellular agriculture industry.

2021

Alaska Seaweed Market Assessment

Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation, with grant support from the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission, contracted with McKinley Research Group to assess current and potential markets for Alaska seaweed. Findings presented are based on a review of available secondary research and seaweed trade, production, and market data, as well as telephone interviews with 40 seaweed market participants and experts in North America and Europe.

2021

The Socio-economic Impact of Cultivated Meat in the UK

Oxford Economics researchers looked at the economic contribution to the UK based on solely domestic consumer spending on cultivated meat in the year 2030 and found:

2021

Innovative Foods: a guide to responsible investment in cell-cultured meat and seafood

The emerging cell-cultured meat and seafood market has seen sustained growth in the last few years as companies seek out new opportunities for reducing their environmental impact, while providing nutritious food for growing populations.

2021

A multi-billion-dollar opportunity – Repurposing agricultural support to transform food systems

Public support mechanisms for agriculture in many cases hinder the transformation towards healthier, more sustainable, equitable, and efficient food systems, thus actively steering us away from meeting the Sustainable Development Goals and targets of the Paris Agreement.

2021

Horizons: Alternative Proteins

While global demand for sustainable protein grows as a solution to an increasingly food-insecure world, ramping up efficient, safe, production is relatively uncharted territory. A groundbreaking new report from CRB – a leading provider of sustainable engineering, architecture, construction and consulting solutions to the food industry, probes the rewards and risks of traversing this new market.

2021

Sustainable food: the investment case

A sustainable global food system benefits the global eco-system as well as human health. But we have a long way to go to get there: today almost 700 million people are undernourished, while 40% of the world’s adult population is overweight or obese.

2021

IFIC Survey: Understanding the Purchasing Behaviors and Preferences of Dairy Consumers

The options in the dairy section of the grocery store are becoming increasingly diversified with non-dairy, plant-based alternatives—whether they be yogurt, milk, ice cream or cheese. But for Americans who consume dairy, how often and why do they choose dairy products versus plant-based alternatives? And how does their selection of dairy-based versus plant-based vary depending on the type of product?

2021

Building ESG into the alternative protein terrain

Alternative proteins are promising to be the growth engine food for the food industry. Early integration of ESG risks and opportunities will help companies, and their investors, avoid the pitfalls of the conventional protein industry.Although still a relatively nascent market, representing approximately 1% of the total protein market, alternative proteins are predicted to reach $17.9 billion by 2025. The long-term opportunity is even greater. Sales are estimated to rise by up to $1.1 trillion by 2040, eating up 60% of the total meat market.

2021

Global Investor Engagement on Meat Sourcing

The Global Investor Engagement on Meat Sourcing, initiated in 2019, consists of dialogues between six of the largest quick-service restaurant (QSR) brands and institutional investors with over $11 trillion in combined assets. Investors have urged the QSRs to analyse and reduce their vulnerability to the impacts of climate change, water scarcity, and pervasive threats to water quality driven by animal protein production.

2021

Plant-based proteins: Building a sustainable future

Data and infographics from the Economist Intelligence Unit.

2021

Protein reimagined: challenges and opportunities in the alternative meat industry

The global protein system is reconfiguring rapidly. The primary sources of conventional protein have changed little since the domestication of animals for meat, dairy and eggs. The alternative protein industry is dynamic. Advancing technologies, decreasing cost curves, changing regulations and increasing consumer adoption will lead to substantial gains in market share for alternative protein over the coming decade. All food value chain players can consider their product strategy and participation to capitalize on the alternative proteins trends.

2021

The Case for Public Investment in Alternative Proteins

This report makes a comprehensive case for robust public investment in research and development for alternative proteins. It also provides a framework for how to spend these funds and maximize their benefit for reducing the environmental and health costs of meat consumption.

2021

M&A as one of the predominant growth drivers for corporates in the alternative protein space

This 24-page study offers unique insights for corporates and investors across the value chain to enter & grow in the alternative protein sector with a particular focus on M&A as one major growth option. The term alternative protein used in this study includes intermediate products like alternatives for animal-derived fat and protein as well as alternatives to end products like meat, fish, seafood, dairy, eggs, and other traditional animal-derived products for human food consumption.

2021

Technological Review of Algae-based Proteins for Alternative Protein Applications

The Good Food Institute India’s mission to accelerate the alternative protein sector includes exploring diverse, sustainable protein sources in India and around the globe. This analysis on algal protein is the first in our protein sources strategic analysis series. The presence of already established companies producing food-grade microalgae and the potential to utilize India’s 8100 km long coastline for seaweed cultivation provides the foundation for the algal protein industry. But the industry in India is at a nascent stage.

2021

Food for Thought: The Protein Transformation

The world’s consumers love animal-based protein—so much so that in 2020 they ate 574 million metric tons’ worth of meat, seafood, dairy, and eggs—almost 75 kilograms per person. Moreover, the amount consumed is still increasing, especially in developing markets.

2021

2020 State of the Industry: Australia's Plant-Based Meat Sector

FY20 saw exponential growth for Australia’s plant-based meat sector, driven by increasing consumer interest and new commercial entrants. Even amidst the significant impacts of COVID-19, the Australian sector doubled its jobs, manufacturing revenue and number of products on shelves from 2019-2020.This report features new economic analysis by Deloitte Access Economics and explores how business, agriculture and government in Australia can benefit from this emerging industry’s growth trajectory, projected to reach $3 billion by 2030.

2021

LCA of cultivated meat. Future projections for different scenarios

In this prospective Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) study of cultivated meat (CM, also sometimes referred to as cell-based meat, clean meat, cultured meat and in-vitro meat) we provide insight into the environmental impact of this product when produced at commercial scales.

2021

TEA of cultivated meat. Future projections of different scenarios

This report provides a Techno-Economic Analysis of industrial scale production of cultivated meat (CM) as projected for the 2030s.

2021

Benchmarking Canada’s Agri-Food Sustainability Leadership | A Roadmap

A diverse coalition of twenty-two partners have come together to consider the need for developing a national sustainability benchmark for Canada’s agri-food sector. By concluding phase one of a broader plan to advance this matter, this report focuses n examining why better benchmarking is needed, how it can be expressed and what value it confers to society, sector competitiveness and policy-making. This current work will be used immediately to engage even more Canadian agri-food stakeholders, setting the stage for phase two to proceed, if embraced by agri-food leaders.

2021

Meating Demand – The lean, green money-making machine

Global meat market revenues are expected to almost double over the next 20 years; however, its growth looks set to be driven by the plant- and cell-based meat subsectors. Plant-based products should dominate the meat alternatives space over the next five years, where innovation is creating a credible consumer proposition. Products can now mimic the sensory profile of conventional meat, where tastes and textures offer a meat-like experience.

2020

The Global Status of Seaweed Production, Trade and Utilization

This report is an update of the status of the global seaweed market: production figures from culture and capture, the size of the international market for seaweed and its commercially important extracts, the leading nations by region, developments in processing and utilization technology, and innovations in the industry, as well as the challenges and outlook for the industry.

2020

Academic Research

The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2024

2024

Meat substitutes: Resource demands and environmental footprints

2023

A review on mycoprotein: History, nutritional composition, production methods, and health benefits

Worldwide, the demand for healthier protein is rapidly increasing due to the population growth and health concerns associated with the consumption of red meat.

2023

Repeated and long-term cryopreservation of primary bovine myogenic cells to maintain quality in biomimetic cultured meat

2023

Aggregating in vitro-grown adipocytes to produce macroscale cell-cultured fat tissue with tunable lipid compositions for food applications

2023

Continuous fish muscle cell line with capacity for myogenic and adipogenic-like phenotypes

2023

Techno-economic modeling and assessment of cultivated meat: Impact of production bioreactor scale

2023

Spontaneous immortalization of chicken fibroblasts generates stable, high-yield cell lines for serum-free production of cultured meat

2023

Food production in space from CO2 using microbial electrosynthesis

2022

Meat protein alternatives: Opportunities and challenges for food systems’ transformation

2022

Environmental impacts along food supply chains

2022

Cultured meat: creative solutions for a cell biological problem

2022

Recombinant production of growth factors for application in cell culture

2022

Dual-Crosslinked Alginate-Based Hydrogels with Tunable Mechanical Properties for Cultured Meat

2022

A Beefy-R culture medium: replacing albumin with rapeseed protein isolates

2022

Bioengineered Lab-Grown Meat-like Constructs through 3D Bioprinting of Antioxidative Protein Hydrolysates

2022

Emulsion-templated microparticles with tunable stiffness and topology: Applications as edible microcarriers for cultured meat

2022

What’s the Beef? The FDA, USDA, and Cell-Cultured Meat

2022

Techno-Economic Modelling and Assessment of Cultivated Meat: Impact of Production Bioreactor Scale

2022

Macroscale Adipose Tissue from Cellular Aggregates: A Simplified Method of Mass Producing Cell-Cultured Fat for Food Applications

We present a method of producing bulk cell-cultured fat tissue for food applications. Mass transport limitations (nutrients, oxygen, waste diffusion) of macroscale 3D tissue culture are circumvented by initially culturing murine or porcine adipocytes in 2D, after which bulk fat is produced by mechanically harvesting and aggregating the lipid-filled adipocytes into 3D fats using alginate or transglutaminase binders. The 3D fats were visually similar to fat tissue harvested from animals, with matching textures based on uniaxial compression tests.

2022

An Edible, Decellularized Plant Derived Cell Carrier for Lab Grown Meat

2022

Chitosan‑sodium alginate-collagen/gelatin three-dimensional edible scaffolds for building a structured model for cell cultured meat

2022

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

2022

Projected environmental benefits of replacing beef with microbial protein

2022

Exploring factors determining German consumers’ intention to eat meat alternatives

2022

3D-printable plant protein-enriched scaffolds for cultivated meat development

2022

Market potential of new plant-based protein alternatives: Insights from four US consumer experiments

2022

Are consumers willing to pay for in-vitro meat? An investigation of naming effects

2022

Bioengineering Outlook on Cultivated Meat Production

2022

Review and analysis of studies on sustainability of cultured meat

2022

Rapid global phaseout of animal agriculture has the potential to stabilize greenhouse gas levels for 30 years and offset 68 percent of CO2 emissions this century

2022

Recombinant production of growth factors for application in cell culture

2022

Muscle-derived fibro-adipogenic progenitor cells for production of cultured bovine adipose tissue

2022

A Comparative Study on the Taste Characteristics of Satellite Cell Cultured Meat Derived from Chicken and Cattle Muscles

2022

Would you eat a burger made in a petri dish? Why people feel disgusted by cultured meat☆

2022

A serum-free media formulation for cultured meat production supports bovine satellite cell differentiation in the absence of serum starvation

2022

Ovalbumin production using Trichoderma reesei culture and low-carbon energy could mitigate the environmental impacts of chicken-egg-derived ovalbumin

Ovalbumin (OVA) produced using the fungus Trichoderma reesei (Tr-OVA) could become a sustainable replacement for chicken egg white protein powder—a widely used ingredient in the food industry.

2022

Risks and benefits of consuming edible seaweeds

2022

Perspectives on scaling production of adipose tissue for food applications

2021

High yield cultivation of marine macroalga Ulva lactuca in a multi-tubular airlift photobioreactor: A scalable model for quality feedstock

Conventional off-shore and on-shore cultivation methods for marine macroalgae are both inadequate to pitch macroalgae as scalable renewable feedstock that can be grown across all coastal locations.

2021

Scaffolding Biomaterials for 3D Cultivated Meat: Prospects and Challenges

2021

Impact of Plant-Based Meat Alternatives on Cattle Inventories and Greenhouse Gas Emissions

2021

Isolation and Characterization of Tissue Resident CD29-Positive Progenitor Cells in Livestock to Generate a Three-Dimensional Meat Bud

2021

Consumer preferences for farm-raised meat, lab-grown meat, and plant-based meat alternatives: Does information or brand matter?

2021

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