UK report outlines barriers and uncertainties facing cultivated meat sector

A new briefing from the UK Parliament’s Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST) has provided one of the most comprehensive assessments to date of the opportunities and limitations of cultivated meat. The report, POSTnote 740, authored by Shirin Bamezai, PhD in SynBio at Imperial College London and POST Fellow, and Jenny Chapman, a Parliamentary biology and health adviser and Churchill Fellow, outlines the current state of the industry, the technical hurdles to scaling, and the regulatory environment in the UK as of April 2025.

Cultivated meat is produced by growing animal cells in bioreactors under controlled conditions. While it has the potential to reduce land use, methane emissions, and animal slaughter, POST finds that major scientific, economic, and public acceptance barriers remain.

The briefing comes just months after the UK became the first European country to approve and sell a cultivated meat product for pet food. In July 2024, a dog treat containing 4% cultivated chicken developed by London-based company Meatly received regulatory approval and was released in February 2025. Human food approvals are yet to follow.

As of April 2025, cultivated meat products available globally for human consumption are hybrid in nature, combining plant proteins with cultivated meat cells. Pure cultivated meat products remain uncommercialized due to technological and cost constraints.

The UK’s Climate Change Committee has recommended that average meat consumption fall by 25% by 2040 and 35% by 2050, with red meat reduced by 40%. Cultivated meat has been positioned as one route to achieve this, but POST notes there is “limited evidence to show that increasing the consumption of alternative proteins, including cultivated meat, will reduce conventional meat consumption”.

Manufacturing cultivated meat is more complex than conventional meat production. Animal cells are taken via biopsy and placed into a nutrient-rich liquid culture medium. These cells multiply and may later mature into different tissue types, such as muscle or fat, using scaffolds and specific biochemical cues. The process mimics natural animal growth but occurs in a sterile environment, theoretically reducing contamination risks.

However, these processes are currently expensive and difficult to scale. Estimates for producing one kilogram of cultivated meat vary from US$16 to over US$400,000, depending on assumptions and methods. A facility capable of producing 121,000 tons of cultivated meat per year would require capital expenditure between US$1.98 billion and US$13.4 billion, according to a 2024 review cited in the report.

POST highlights that commercial-scale production would require cell lines capable of indefinite growth and stress resilience, which have not yet been identified. Media, the liquid used to feed the cells, can represent more than 99% of total production costs, particularly when using fetal bovine serum (FBS), which is expensive and sourced from slaughtered animals.

Efforts are underway to develop animal-free alternatives to FBS, but many are still expensive, less effective, or work only with specific cell types. Researchers are also exploring the use of agricultural byproducts and waste streams, such as rapeseed meal or cow blood, to develop lower-cost media.

Bioreactor capacity is another limiting factor. In March 2025, Australian company Vow announced it had grown cells in a 20,000-liter bioreactor. However, UK cultivated meat companies generally operate with much smaller equipment. Access to scale-up facilities, which are necessary for regulatory approval and investor confidence, is limited in the UK. Several companies have responded by building private pilot plants with the help of venture capital.

The UK cultivated meat sector includes 16 companies and multiple university-led research centers, including the Cellular Agriculture Manufacturing Hub (CARMA) and the National Alternative Protein Innovation Centre (NAPIC). Between 2020 and mid-2024, the UK government invested US$37.3 million (£30 million) into cultivated meat research. Despite this, some companies have chosen to expand operations abroad due to limited manufacturing support in the UK.

In terms of regulation, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and Food Standards Scotland received US$2 million (£1.6 million) in October 2024 from the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology to run a two-year regulatory 'sandbox' for cultivated meat. This initiative aims to support risk assessment, labeling, and approvals. The FSA has stated that safety assessments of two cultivated meat products will be completed during the sandbox.

While cultivated meat production could lower methane and nitrous oxide emissions, POST found that carbon dioxide emissions vary significantly depending on energy sources and production methods. One study found that renewable energy could reduce the carbon footprint of cultivated beef by up to 92%. However, another suggested that cultivated meat production could be up to 25 times more carbon-intensive than conventional beef if relying on fossil fuels.

Water use and waste are also concerns. Livestock farming in the UK primarily uses rainwater, while cultivated meat production relies on industrial water use. Some studies suggest cultivated meat could reduce water use by up to 78% compared with beef, but outcomes depend on recycling efficiency and the ingredients used in cell culture.

Animal welfare is a key argument for cultivated meat. A single 0.5g biopsy could produce up to 5,000 tons of cultivated meat, depending on the cell line used. Still, POST notes questions remain about how many animals would be needed, their welfare status, and the use of animal-derived media ingredients.

On public attitudes, surveys show that between 16-41% of UK consumers are currently willing to eat cultivated meat. However, 46% believe it should not be sold in the UK. Concerns include perceptions of unnaturalness, food safety, cultural acceptability, and the degree of food processing involved.

Farmers have expressed unease over how cultivated meat might impact their livelihoods. The 2024 'Culture Clash' project engaged 80 UK farmers and found widespread uncertainty, particularly over whether cultivated meat would compete with or complement conventional livestock production. Challenges raised included potential job losses and disruption to supply chains. Some farmers, however, saw opportunities in supplying ingredients or adopting on-farm bioreactors.

The POSTnote concludes that although cultivated meat presents multiple potential benefits, its viability at commercial scale remains unclear. The environmental, social, and economic outcomes are still speculative and heavily dependent on future technological developments and consumer behavior.