INTHEBLACK February 2024 - Magazine - Page 45
“With all of these wheels in motion, we expect that cultivated meat will be
at least theoretically available to consumers in many, if not most, of Asia’s
biggest markets in five years’ time. But it will still be a long way off from
achieving price parity with conventional meat while the industry scales up
manufacturing capacity across the continent.”
MIRTE GOSKER, GOOD FOOD INSTITUTE
Eassom adds that Singapore’s “business
friendly environment for technology” allows
it to attract innovative companies.
“Singapore is also a melting pot of Asian
and Western cultures, so they are used to
eating all different types of cuisine,” he says.
“Our research shows that, more than any
other nation in Asia, Singapore has the most
positive attitude towards trying a new food
such as cultivated meat. In fact, 39 per cent of
consumers in Singapore have said they will,
or are likely to, try cultivated meat when they
have an opportunity.”
ROADBLOCKS TO SUCCESS
Appetites for alternative proteins are growing,
but cultivated meat still faces significant
challenges to becoming a major industry.
Data from McKinsey shows reaching a
US$25 billion (A$38 billion) market by
2030 will require the annual production of
1.5 million tonnes of cultivated meat.
“Developing the quantities you need to feed
the market – and building the infrastructure
to produce those quantities – is a very difficult
proposition, because most of the bioreactors
that you might use in this process are already
being assigned and used in industries like
pharmaceuticals,” Eassom says.
Dr Peter Valtchev, industrial research
manager at the University of Sydney’s Centre
for Advanced Food Engineering, says creating
a desirable texture is another challenge for
the industry.
“The reality is that we have been able to
grow cells in a bioreactor and in cell culture for
decades, but there is a big difference between
cells and tissue,” he says. “To form tissue, there
is a huge gap that hasn’t been bridged yet.”
Valtchev explains that, since cells are
“essentially about 70 per cent water”,
combining them in large quantities creates
a soup-like texture.
Howitt adds that developing a meat-like
texture is a focus of ongoing research.
“There are also some aspects of research
around creating an edible framework that the
cells grow in that help to give that texture,”
Howitt says. “Some are talking about 3D
printing matrices that are edible and then
growing the cells in them.”
To become a truly effective global food
solution, cultivated meat must also overcome a
major obstacle of consumer acceptance.
“A big challenge is people’s aversion to
what they think is ‘Frankenstein food’, or
lab-produced food – that is not ‘natural’ or is
‘artificial’,” Eassom adds.
“All food technology takes place in
laboratories, and, if you want to talk about
‘Frankenstein food’, just think about the
interventions that go into producing the
80 billion chickens people consume every year
that are fully grown and ready for slaughter
within five to six weeks of hatching.”
GREEN CREDENTIAL CHECK
Even if the cultivated meat industry can
overcome these challenges, will it really
offer a sustainable alternative to the
traditional meat industry?
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change’s 2022 assessment report says that
alternative proteins like cultivated meat could
help to reduce global emissions from food
production, because of their “lower land, water
and nutrient footprints”.
However, as cultivated meat is not yet
produced at an industrial scale, estimates of its
carbon footprint are largely based on scientific
and engineering models.
Few studies have quantified the amount
of fresh surface and groundwater required
to grow meat in a lab. However, a study
conducted by Dutch research firm CE Delft,
commissioned by the Good Food Institute,
indicates an up to 78 per cent reduction as
compared to beef production.
In contrast, researchers at the University
of California, Davis, have found that the
intheblack.cpaaustralia.com.au 45
