Market focus: High steaks players

Louise Davis meets the experts who are betting on the success of the alternative beef and lamb products market

At the end of 2022, one of the key players in the cultivated meat sector, Mosa Meat, issued a call to arms for governments and the food industry to help advance cultivated beef development. The company published a review detailing how cultivated beef can help mitigate the climate impact associated with industrial beef production and it called for increased investment to further scale up the technology.

A large part of the overall cultivated meat landscape can be summed up by those two points: that cultivated meat – not only beef but also lamb, as we’ll discuss here – can be much better than traditional meat, but that scaling up production is where the entire industry hinges.

Christoph Mayr, Co-founder & CEO of Swiss firm, Mirai Foods, has long heralded the benefits of cultivated meat. “Since I started working in the food industry back in 2011, I saw how broken our food system was and how drastically we need to change it to save our planet,” he recalls. “With the meat industry as one of the biggest problem areas, I was always looking out for impactful opportunities in this realm. As the years passed, I concluded that people are indeed aware of the negative effects of meat consumption, but they’re not ready to change – meat is central to many cultures. As soon as I heard about the potential of cell ag, I was hooked.

“A technology enabling the production of actual meat without harming a single animal and reducing the environmental impact at the same time? That’s a game-changer,” Mayr believes. “This was the starting point for Mirai Foods and it was also the inspiration for our name – ‘mirai’ is the Japanese word for ‘future’.”

Mayr chose to focus on beef as cattle farming has the biggest environmental impact. “It also benefits us as beef is among the more expensive meat products, so it gives us some extra budget to develop an exceptional product that can match existing beef products on the market.”

Mayr’s aim is sound but how easy is it to make a cultivated beef product that stacks up to its conventional competitors? “Appearance, texture, and taste are the most important aspects and for sure are challenging when creating cultivated beef. Nevertheless, with our proprietary approach, we see ourselves well equipped to hit the desired requirements.”

So, what does this approach involve on the technology side? “Unlike many of our peers, we’re using natural beef cells isolated from the best breeds, which aren’t modified in any way. Additionally, we developed a proprietary technology that can produce exceptional natural muscular structure. When combining it with our own in-house developed fat, we can offer a great variety of attractive beef products.”

Going down such a proprietary route (rather than buying in elements such as cultivated animal fat from third parties) seems a smart approach for a swift and controlled path to commercialization. It has also helped open up a further part of the overall alt proteins market: Mirai is partnering with Rügenwalder Mühle on a hybrid product featuring plant-based proteins along with Mirai’s cultivated fat. Commenting on this, Mayr says, “Hybrid products will help raise awareness of the benefits of cultivated fat and later also for 100% cultivated meat products. They will also help to educate consumers about the benefits of cultivated products and smooth the transition from conventional to cultivated meat.”

It’s not only consumers that need to be convinced of the merits of cultivated meats: legislators also need steering in the right direction. “Right now, cultivated meat can only be sold in Singapore, with the USA hopefully following in the next few years,” Mayr states. “Here in Switzerland, it’s a different story so we’re focusing our efforts on bringing our products to markets where regulatory approval is expected sooner.”

Unlike many of our peers, we’re using natural beef cells isolated from the best breeds, which aren’t modified in any way

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The Finnish line

In Finland, Nesli Sözer, Research Professor at VTT, also acknowledges the problem with legislation. “Especially with respect to precision fermentation and cellular agriculture, the regulations and policies are big challenges. This is slowing go-to-market in the EU as compared with the USA or Singapore, where you can already see products made by using precision fermentation or cellular agriculture,” she observes.

VTT is going down the path of plant-based cell ag (aka meat made from plants). “We have experience with a diverse group of ingredients – plant-based ones such as pea, oat, barley, faba bean,” Sözer explains. “We also use side-streams (rapeseed press cake, sunflower press cake, brewers’ spent grain, cereal brans) to obtain protein concentrates or isolates that can be applied for meat or dairy alternatives.

“At VTT we have technologies both for ingredient and food production. We mainly use dry separation technologies to obtain protein concentrates or cascaded processing (combining dry-wet extraction) to obtain protein isolates. Cascaded processing enables 50% less water use and at least 20% energy saving. We also have a recent patent where we utilize single-step extrusion processing to obtain plant protein concentrates (up to 75% protein content with high yields) from a regular wholegrain flour. The protein concentrate is very successful in making meat alternatives with protein digestibility comparable to cooked beef.”

Sözer explains that VTT uses the extrusion technology to develop meat-like structures. “We optimize the flavor and nutritional properties of meat alternatives by using bioprocessing technologies (germination, solid-state fermentation or enzymatic treatment),” she adds.

Like Mirai Foods, VTT sees the large market potential of hybrid products. “This is a cost-effective technology solution to bridge the gap between animal products and plant-based alternatives,” Sözer states.  

“When we are talking about hybrid foods, the opportunities are not only restricted to combining plant and animal ingredients. We can also improve the texture
and taste of alternatives by combining them with precision fermentation or cellular agriculture ingredients. An example for cell ag-plant hybrids is the Impossible burger, where biotechnically produced heme (which gives the color and taste to red meat) has been used in making a pea-protein based burger. We use cells as factories to create meat lipids that give the unique taste to meat and pigments to complement the overall eating and cooking experience.”

VTT is working on products such as burgers and steaks (traditionally made with beef) and one stated aim is to replicate the “sizzle of fat in the pan”. How challenging is
that to do when working solely with plants? “There are certain microorganisms that can produce lipids under limited nitrogen conditions,” Sözer details. “However, production of a dedicated lipid profile is not that straightforward as these microorganisms typically have a tendency to produce long chain fatty acids to C18 and above. We teach the cells to produce short-chain fatty acids but just the right amount and not as saturated as the animal lipids.”

For many producers of alternative beef and lamb products, scaling up will be tough, so this could be an area where plant-based meats have the commercial edge. “Scaling up for us is less challenging as the core processing technologies (i.e. dry and wet fractionation, extrusion processing, fermentation processing) we use already exist at the industrial scale,” observes Sözer. “Of course, the way we utilize these existing processing technologies is the novelty. We have excellent infrastructure, and we operate mainly at pilot-scale. We also have a good innovation network – whenever needed, we can test at industrially relevant environments.”

Into the valley

One cultivated meat player that’s not worried about the issue of scaling up is Australian firm Magic Valley. “Our key differentiator is our use of induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technology,” reveals Paul Bevan, Founder & CEO. “iPSCs replicate indefinitely, have a quicker doubling time, and can produce more mass, more quickly. This means it is also a much cheaper process.”

Bevan is always keen to highlight that his approach is “completely animal component free (so, no fetal bovine serum) and has been from the very start”. This means Magic Valley doesn’t need to remove serum, adapt its cells or alter its processes at any stage. “Not only is this the most ethical approach, it’s also the most efficient and far cheaper than using FBS,” he states. “We also use non-integrative reprogramming techniques, so our products are non-GMO.”

Ethics are hugely important to Bevan. He’s been vegan for almost a decade and recalls getting involved in activism but “mostly found it to be ineffective” and a “massive waste of my time”. Instead, he reassessed how best to use his skills and resources and have the biggest impact for animals. “I decided technology was the answer and that investing in alternative proteins was the way to go. So, I made a couple of investments and saw a heap of pitches... and then decided I would start my own cultivated meat company here in Australia!

“Now more than ever, I’m convinced that developing cultivated meat is the best way to remove animals from the supply chain, as well as solving a whole host of other issues.”

Magic Valley is currently producing lamb products and Bevan reels off a list of reasons for choosing lamb. “Australia is renowned for having the best breeds of sheep in the world and is the largest exporter of sheep and lamb meat globally. It also made sense from a competition and commercialization point of view – there is very little competition in the lamb space as most companies are focused on producing the more widely consumed meats first, such as chicken.

“From a price-point perspective, lamb is the most expensive meat in Australia, China and many other regions in the world. The Middle East is also a target market for us.

“And finally, from an animal cruelty perspective, lambs are slaughtered for human consumption at just six months of age, so it was important to me to address this issue as well.”

In terms of challenges specific to creating cell-based lamb, Bevan says it has similar challenges to most other cultivated meats – taste, texture, mouth-feel. “Obviously, fat has a large role to play in the taste and structure of the final products. With our use of iPSCs, we can develop any cell or tissue type within the body (including fat, bone, and connective tissue), so we think we’re well placed to tackle these challenges.”

Magic Valley has already announced its cultivated lamb prototypes and Bevan says the company is now focused on scaling up production. He also hopes to commercialize a minced meat product in 2024. Like all players trying to succeed in this space, Magic Valley has to overcome legislative hurdles. “Our local regulator is Food Standards Australia & NZ (FSANZ) and they have been great to deal with,” Bevan reports. “There is an existing framework for us to apply for approval of our products under the novel food pathway. We plan on launching here first while maintaining a keen eye on regulatory developments in other regions.

Our key differentiator is our use of induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technology – which is the most scalable approach to mass production of cultivated meat

“As we don’t use FBS and we’re non-GMO, we think we will also have a smoother path to regulatory approval. Plus, our iPSC provides one master cell bank, so we never have to go back to the animal or face having to re-apply for approval of different cell lines.”

Ultimately, though, Bevan feels it’s not governments or legislators that will play the biggest part. “Our core focus is on developing healthy and delicious cultivated meat for consumers concerned with their own health, environmental sustainability, or animal welfare – in the end, it’s the consumer who will determine the success of cultivated meat.”

Cultured consumers

Consumer acceptance is clearly an important part of the bigger picture around alt proteins and one expert researcher on this topic is Chris Bryant. The stated aim of his firm, Bryant Research, is to “use expertise in social science, market research, and policy analysis to help mainstream meat reduction and alternative proteins”. Bryant published a paper, Consumer acceptance of cultured meat, back in 2018, when research into this area was in its infancy. He published an update in 2020 that explains how many more studies have taken place in those two years.

What are the key points that have evolved since his 2018 paper? “I was surprised at the amount of new research on consumer acceptance of cultivated meat,” he comments. “There has been a real explosion of research in this area – most of the updated work is investigating new angles (i.e. what is important to consumers) and new markets.”

A point Bryant presented in his initial paper was around research showing how many consumers would actually try cultured meat: “Wilks and Phillips (2017) give an overall positive view of consumer acceptance, reporting that 65.3% would be willing to try cultured meat, of whom 32.6% would be willing to eat it regularly, 47.7% would be more willing to eat it compared to soy-based meat substitutes, and 31.5% would be willing to eat it as a replacement for farmed meat.”

When asked whether these figures have changed much, Bryant notes, “The numbers will vary based on how the question is asked, terminology used, etc. One longitudinal study found not much change between 2019 and 2020, but we can expect acceptance of cultivated meat will change as it becomes more widely available and familiar to consumers.”

Of the potential consumer objections Bryant discusses in the two papers, the perception that cultured meat products are ‘unnatural’ is high on the list. Other possible objections include safety, health, and taste. “I think it is vital to get the taste and eating experience right,” he states. “This will be immediately evident to consumers when they try cultivated meat, and consumers will only adopt it in the long-term if it is good quality. Healthiness and safety are interesting as they are not immediately observable, so consumers have to rely on regulators and/or other signals. Cultivated meat will be able to avoid the pathogens that frequently affect animal meat, so in this sense, it can improve food safety.”

Acknowledging the role of demographics in consumer acceptance, Bryant observes, “I do think there is good reason to think it will rise: firstly as people become more familiar with cultured meat; secondly as older, more hesitant people are replaced by younger, more exploratory people; and lastly as the expectation to avoid factory-farmed products grows.”

The issue of price is one that determines the success of almost any new product – particularly in these turbulent economic times. Bryant is cautiously optimistic on this front. “Price is a huge factor for consumers,” he says. “Right now, cultivated meat is more expensive than meat from animals, but that is mainly due to its novelty. As the technology develops, the price will continue to drop, and eventually it will be cheaper than animal meat, partly because it is far more resource efficient.”

Bryant also suspects that hybrid products will be one way to develop greater consumer acceptance. “Data suggests that consumers are quite open to eating these hybrid products, and they can play an important role in reducing consumption of animal products.”

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