Cultured meat: advantages, disadvantages, and challenges

Abstract

A challenge that has recently emerged, related to the use of new food sources, is the obtainment of meat without the presence of the animal. There are several methods for producing cultured meat, such as using animal cells as raw material to grow meat outside the animal, using muscle fibers combined with plant material in a bioreactor, or using 3D bioprinting. These methods each have their own advantages and disadvantages, as well as challenges specific to each production method; however, the predominant approach has been to produce cultured meat from stem cells, satellite cells, or immortalized cells in bioreactors using classical tissue engineering, as opposed to 3D bioprinting, which has been used primarily as a tool to address texture, marbling, and architecture. Regardless of the method used to produce the meat, all approaches demonstrate reduced levels of pollution, lower water consumption, and decreased energy demand; the main disadvantage lies in sociocultural barriers and public perception of foods produced through bioengineering, due primarily to resistance to change, as well as the scarcity of published research and strict approval regulations that lengthen the commercial authorization processes. The novelty of the topic still raises many questions that could be a starting point for further research. The real problem is to demonstrate that biology, cost and scale can be integrated into a system that is reproducible, safe, and viable from both a regulatory and commercial standpoint, with a level of acceptance appropriate for the population that will consume it.