Traditional meat production has a significant environmental cost. The United Nations has reported that the livestock sector generates 14.5% of all greenhouse gas emissions, requiring 30% of the Earth’s land space, and 8% of the global supply of freshwater1.
Animals require up to 97% of their caloric intake to maintain their bodies and produce non-edible tissues, making animal-derived food products less efficient than their cultured meat counterparts1.
Viral outbreaks originating from factory farm conditions, such as swine and avian flu2 have been documented. These are a potential risk to human health and thus important to monitor and avoid when possible. Relying on antibiotic use contributes to the evolution of antibiotic resistance. Furthermore, most ethical concerns surrounding animal welfare are avoided when producing cultured meat.
Though gaining popularity, the ‘clean meat’ industry is not without challenges, including the need to make processes more economically viable and to manufacture products with a texture closer to animal tissue.
Scaling up operations is a major hurdle that cultured meat manufacturers also experience. Some of the efficiency optimizations will require selecting and developing cell lines that grow at a fast rate and require less cell culture medium, while being able to grow well in serum-free culture medium.
The culture scaffolding also requires optimization to provide the most efficient nutrient/media flow and cell stacking possible.