Cultivated Meat Technologies and Efficiencies

For those opposed to effects of factory farming, or who are simply epicurious, products made of so-called cultivated (laboratory-grown) meat are now coming to market. Like plant-based meats and mycoproteins from mushrooms, production of these food items has a lower carbon footprint than that associated with conventional meat, especially beef.

More specifically, it’s estimated that cultivated meat uses at least 80% less water and 90% less land than traditional meat production. Accounting for the disposal of byproducts and waste, such as spent biomass, changes the overall footprint calculations somewhat.

With some exceptions — including Believer Meats, Ever After Foods, and Upside Foods — most of the potential industry is still at the research and development stage. That said, both process automation and discrete automation are helping to identify and scale the best approaches to produce these cultivated meats.

Of course, once the industry advances, such automation will be core to these meats’ large-scale manufacture and satisfaction of regulatory food-safety requirements.

Figure 1: PLC and PAC controls could soon command the process and discrete automation of producing cultivated meats having the look, texture, and taste of beef, chicken, and other meats. (Image: Omron Automation and Safety)

Specifics vary, but usually cells are taken from a donor animal and temporarily stored. Then they’re put in a bioreactor (akin to those used in beer or vaccine manufacture) with plant or gelatin scaffolding, nutrients, and cell-differentiating medium (to prompt cells into muscle or fat forms) and allowed to grow. Over the course of weeks, automated systems tightly control the bioreactor’s internal temperature, pH, nutrient inputs, and oxygen levels to optimize the cells’ growth.

Figure 2: This bioreactor uses pneumatic-based stirring and software leveraging optimizations gained through digital-twin models to improve upon existing technologies. (Image: Arc Biotech)

To maintain food safety, the sizable automation assemblies employed in this production must accept clean-in-place and sterilization-in-place processes. So, as with any other food-production equipment, stainless steel housings, enclosures, and vessels will dominate. Besides it being required where metal portions of machinery make direct contact with food, stainless helps such equipment withstand regular exposure to the chemicals, heat, and water of washdowns as well as the steam used in sterilization.

Figure 3: A 304 stainless-steel air cylinder complemented by a 303 stainless-steel cylinder rod helps this pneumatic cylinder withstand the harsh conditions to which food-processing equipment is subjected. (Image: Fabco Air)

Also key to the cultivated meat industry will be:

• Realtime monitoring of bioprocesses by IoT sensors, I/O, and data-acquisition equipment - This increasingly takes the form of equipment that integrates into cloud-based systems with digital-transformation (DX) architectures

• Robotics (at times complemented by AI-based image recognition) for various cell sorting, seeding, sampling, harvesting, and quality-control tasks

• 3D-printing equipment where extrusion of mixed ingredients is used to replicate the composition and textures of specific cuts of meat

Of course, other types of food production (namely, that of fruit and vegetable farming) have been increasing use of automation for some time now. This equipment is found in processing and packing facilities as well as fields, orchards, and even greenhouse and vertical-farming operations. Of the many benefits provided by today’s automated machinery, its ability to gently handle fragile fruits and vegetables is perhaps most important. In some cases, this produce is carried to market with the same mechanization efficiencies that benefit the distribution of less easily bruised or otherwise damaged grains, beans, and other row crops.

It makes one think: With their dramatic health benefits and far less expenditure than cultivated or even traditional meat production, perhaps we should all aim to eat more fruits and vegetables now and then.