The cultivated meat industry is at a critical juncture, facing both funding challenges and the complex task of scaling production to meet potential demand. The recent webinar hosted by The Good Food Institute (GFI) shed light on the hurdles this nascent sector must overcome to transition from a high-end restaurant novelty to a commercially viable alternative to conventional meat.
Dr. Elliot Swartz, principal scientist at GFI, highlighted the paradox that cultivated meat producers are currently navigating: to lower costs, they need to scale up production, but scaling up requires a market large enough to justify the investment. This “chicken-and-egg” situation is compounded by a significant 78% drop in funding in 2023, and the decision by two major players to put large-scale commercial facility plans on hold.
The cost of growth factors, signaling proteins essential in cell culture media, remains a key bottleneck. As Swartz points out, no single manufacturer is ready to purchase these proteins in large quantities, which hampers the ability to achieve economies of scale. Suppliers, who need to grow alongside the cultivated meat industry, are cautious about investing heavily when the current demand doesn’t justify the creation of numerous large-scale facilities.
In terms of media components, amino acids used to feed cells are sourced from individual fermentation processes, only some of which are sufficiently scaled. Swartz acknowledges that sourcing lower-cost alternatives for media components, such as non-recombinant sources of albumin or amino acids, is still in the research phase. He underscores the importance of sharing results, protocols, and methods openly to avoid duplicative research and to accelerate progress through collaborative efforts.
Swartz also emphasizes the importance of developing more efficient cell lines that require fewer, less expensive inputs. Genetic engineering and editing tools are increasingly being incorporated into the process to address scalability concerns. For example, engineering cells to eliminate the need for certain expensive growth factors could be a game-changer.
However, the true measure of progress isn’t just about achieving high cell densities or reducing media costs per liter. What matters, according to Swartz, is the cost of producing a kilogram of cultivated meat. This involves considering the mass of media ingredients necessary to produce the final product and how efficiently the production process can be managed.
When it comes to infrastructure, Swartz notes that the industry lacks primary data, as companies are just beginning to build their first facilities. Large-scale facilities using stir tank bioreactors could cost from $300 million to over $1 billion, with significant capital costs per ton. This has prompted research into alternative bioreactor types and cheaper plant designs.
Swartz also addressed the challenges of scaling up, such as ensuring equal delivery of oxygen and nutrients to cells and managing pressure differences within large vessels. Innovations like nanobubbles for oxygenation could potentially address these issues at very large scales. He also mentioned the potential for antimicrobial peptides to prevent contamination in non-pharmaceutical environments.
The mode of operation—whether batch, fed-batch, or perfusion—may depend on the cell lines used. Continuous or perfusion processes are being developed but may have limitations as bioreactor size increases or if media costs cannot be sufficiently lowered.
Finally, Swartz touched on the viability of cultivated meat production. The cost is not yet clear due to the variety of production approaches. Context is crucial; for high-end products like foie gras or Bluefin tuna toro, a 100% cultivated meat product may be cost-competitive. For commodity meats, hybrid products with low inclusion rates of cultivated meat might be the most practical path to cost-competitiveness.
The cultivated meat industry is navigating uncharted waters, and its success hinges on collaborative innovation, technological advancements, and the eventual willingness of consumers to embrace these products. The path to commercial viability is uncertain, but the potential environmental and ethical benefits continue to drive interest and investment in this pioneering field.