Scaffolds for the manufacture of cultured meat

Abstract

The cultured meat market has been growing at an accelerated space since the first creation of cultured meat burger back in 2013. Substantial efforts have been made to reduce costs by eliminating serum in growth media and improving process efficiency by employing bioreactors. In parallel, efforts are also being made on scaffolding innovations to offer better cells proliferation, differentiation and tissue development. So far, scaffolds used in cultured meat research are predominantly collagen and gelatin, which are animal-derived. To align with cell-based meat vision i.e. environment conservation and animal welfare, plant-derived biomaterials for scaffolding are being intensively explored. This paper reviews and discusses the advantages and disadvantages of scaffold materials and potential scaffolding related to scale-up solution for the production of cultured meat.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords:

• Cultured meat
• cell-based meat
• cultivated meat
• lab-grown meat
• scaffolds
• tissue engineering
• alternative proteins
• sustainability
• cellular agriculture

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflict of interest

Additional information

Funding

This research/project is supported by the National Research Foundation, Singapore, and the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), under the Singapore Food Story R&D Programme.