Max Planck Institute and Innocent Meat advance cultivated meat scale-up in German bioprocessing project

Biotechnologists at the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics of Complex Technical Systems in Magdeburg have partnered with Innocent Meat to develop more efficient production processes for cultivated meat, with a focus on scaling up yields and improving industrial viability.

• The Max Planck Institute and Innocent Meat launched a joint project to improve cultivated meat production through process intensification and high-cell-density culture systems.
• Researchers are adapting pharmaceutical and bioprocessing techniques to optimize cell growth, media use and reactor performance.
• The project received around €285,000 (US$310,000) in funding from Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy.

The collaboration forms part of the 'Cellular Agriculture and Process Intensification' (ZELPI) project, which brings together academic and industry expertise to address one of the central challenges in cultivated meat: scaling production efficiently while maintaining product quality and cost competitiveness.

Researchers at the Max Planck Institute are contributing their experience in bioprocess engineering, particularly in process intensification and continuous cell culture systems. Their work will build on established techniques used in pharmaceutical manufacturing, including high-cell-density perfusion culture, to increase output while reducing resource use.

To make cultivated meat commercially viable, production systems must move beyond laboratory-scale methods and adapt to industrial conditions. This requires rethinking key elements such as cell lines, growth media and cultivation strategies, many of which have been developed for other sectors and are not optimized for food applications.

Innocent Meat, a Rostock-based startup, has already developed initial cultivation processes, including cell lines and media formulations. As part of the project, these systems will be transferred to the Max Planck Institute, where they will be tested and optimized using advanced bioreactors and cell retention technologies.

The goal is to achieve significantly higher cell densities, enabling more efficient production and improved yields. By comparing different process configurations, the research team aims to identify approaches that can be scaled up for industrial deployment.

Professor Dr Yvonne Genzel and Jan Küchler are leading the work at the Max Planck Institute, drawing on the broader expertise of the Bioprocess Engineering Research Group. The group, led by Professor Dr Udo Reichl, has previously developed scalable processes for vaccine production, achieving high yields through advanced cell culture techniques.

This experience is expected to play a key role in adapting similar methods for food applications. By applying knowledge from vaccine manufacturing to cultivated meat, the team aims to accelerate the development of robust, scalable production systems.

The project also reflects a broader trend of cross-sector knowledge transfer, where technologies developed in pharmaceuticals are being adapted for use in food production. This approach is seen as critical for overcoming technical barriers and reducing the cost of cultivated meat.

In addition to improving efficiency, the collaboration is focused on sustainability. Higher cell densities and optimized processes can reduce the use of inputs such as media and energy, contributing to more resource-efficient production systems.

The long-term objective is to enable food manufacturers to integrate cultivated meat production into existing operations. Innocent Meat is developing an automated, end-to-end production system designed for on-site use within the meat processing industry, allowing companies to transition toward cell-based production models.

By combining process optimization with system-level design, the partners aim to create a pathway from research to industrial application.

The project is supported by Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy through its “Industrial Bioeconomy” funding program, which promotes collaboration between research institutions and industry. The Max Planck Institute has received approximately €285,000 (US$310,000) over two years to support its work.

Beyond the immediate goals of the project, the research is expected to generate broader insights into bioprocessing that could be applied across other areas of biotechnology. By expanding its expertise into food applications, the Max Planck team aims to contribute to the development of more sustainable production systems across the bioeconomy.

As cultivated meat continues to move toward commercialization, efforts such as the ZELPI project highlight the importance of process engineering in bridging the gap between scientific innovation and scalable manufacturing.