Israel is now the third country, after Singapore and the United States, to approve the sale of cultivated meat. Cultivated meat is an application of the newest category of animal products: the animal cell itself. Like conventional meat, cultivated meat contains animal muscle, fat, and collagen. This muscle, fat, and collagen, however, are grown directly from animal cells, rather than by raising and slaughtering an animal.
While cultivated meat may hold promise for producing more humane and socially sustainable protein, it may also help solve some of the negative environmental impacts of industrial livestock production. Reducing waste from the meat industry is one area where cultivated meat has tremendous potential, according to CE Delft, an independent consultancy firm.
One of the biggest drivers for establishing Aleph Farms was to play meaningful roles in solving some of humanity’s biggest challenges, relating to food security, nature conservation, and climate action. Reducing food loss and food waste plays a major role in reaching such important goals. Cellular agriculture allows for a sustainable way of producing animal proteins, reducing not only the amount of environmental inputs and outputs associated with the final product, but also reducing potential food loss and waste due to the efficiency of the process.
According to CE Delft, 23 percent of all conventional meat that is produced goes to waste. Of this total amount wasted, 64 percent occurs at the consumption level, 20 percent during processing, 12 percent during distribution, and 3.5 percent during primary production and post-harvest.
Animal-based foods make up about 12 percent of global food loss and waste, according to a study from the Oxford University Press. While this is lower than some other commodities, the effects of that loss and waste are more significant than with other types of food, the report finds.
Another study on food loss and waste in the meat sector finds that most losses during primary production are because of rearing conditions, as well as how animals are transported to slaughterhouses. A recent report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture finds that meat, chicken, and fish make up 30 percent of the total negative value of food loss, higher than vegetables at 19 percent and dairy products at 17 percent. In addition, sickness can spread quickly among livestock housed in crowded conditions and lead to unnecessary animal deaths, another significant cause of waste. More so, in recent years, we are also witnessing that due to extreme climate events, such as heat/cold waves and droughts, increasing mortality of herds.
Cultivated meat may help eliminate the sources of waste that exist in the conventional meat industry, while enhancing efficiency in production overall, according to CE Delft life cycle analysis (LCA) that collected data from 19 companies with the cellular agriculture industry to assess the potential environmental impact cultivated meat will has once in mass production .
Cultivated meat has the potential to lower the environmental impact of meat production more broadly, according to CE Delft’s LCA. The LCA reports that cultivated meat would use land 60 to 300 percent more efficiently than poultry, and 2,000 to 4,000 percent more efficiently than beef.
And according to a report on human appropriation of land and food, poultry has a feed efficiency rate of 13 percent, pork 8.8 percent, lamb 4.4 percent, and beef only 1.9 percent. That means, for example, that only 1.9 percent of the calories in cattle feed inputs are effectively converted to boneless beef; the remaining 98.1 percent is lost during conversion. In addition, over one third of global crop production is for feed. Cultivated meat has a feed conversion rate (FCR) 5.5 times higher when compared to intensive livestock production and 36 times higher FCR when compared to grass-fed livestock, according to CE Delft. The fact that cultivated meat is still in its early stages makes this data especially encouraging—as technology develops and scales, efficiency is likely to rise.
“One key benefit of cultivated meat is that you only have to raise the part people want to eat, not the bones, skin, or other body parts,” Dana Gunders, Executive Director of ReFED tells Food Tank. “That essentially eliminates the ‘loss’ of needing eight pounds of feed to get just one pound of food.” This reflects the amount of feed needed for poultry, but even more is needed for beef. To produce one pound of beef, approximately 25 pounds of feed are required.
Cultivated meat is produced through three main steps. The first step is obtaining a sample of cells from a healthy animal. Then, the cells are put into a cultivator (imagine a large tank, like at a brewery) with growth media and a scaffold. Cultivators are temperature-controlled and clean environments for cells to grow. Inside a cultivator, cells repeatedly duplicate, quickly increasing in number. The starter cells can then mature into muscle and fat when attached to a solid material called a scaffold. Piping carries oxygen and liquid nutrients, called growth media or feed, inside of the cultivator to reach the cells and help them grow and mature. Growth media is a nutrient-rich liquid that feeds the cells; it typically contains the same carbohydrates, proteins, and other components used to help cells grow within an animal.
A scaffold provides the structure and surface for the cells to mature into muscle and fat and grow into the desired texture and form. It can be made of many types of edible biomaterial, such as gelatin, plants, algae, or fungi, and provides environmental cues to encourage the cells to grow in a specific way.
The final step is to harvest the cultivated meat and process it into commercial products, such as burgers, chicken nuggets, and steak. The production time typically takes about five to seven weeks, but varies depending on species, type of cells, growing conditions, scale, and desired product.
“The growing process of cultivated meat is controlled and provides the utmost precision,” Yoav Reisler, Senior Manager of Marketing Communications at Aleph, tells Food Tank. “It enables us to customize the product experience (including flavor, texture, color and cooking process) according to requirements or expectations of different chefs and end consumers.”
The technology developed for cultivated meat can also apply to other animal products. The cell lines and growth media currently being used to grow cultivated meat can also be used to grow collagen-based products like gelatin and leather.
In 2022, the total number of publicly announced cultivated meat companies rose to 156.
“For cultivated meat to drive a long-term impact, producers need to offer consumers an array of delicious products. This means accounting for different preferences, which vary between cultures and even from individual to individual,” Reisler says. “With more protein diversification and customization, cultivated meat can appeal to more taste buds. Wider appeal accelerates consumer acceptance, so it’s important to offer a diverse portfolio of options.”
Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.
Photo courtesy of Aleph Farms
