Engineering Considerations on Large-Scale Cultured Meat Production

Abstract

In recent decades, cultured meat has received considerable interest as a sustainable alternative to traditional meat products, showing promise for addressing the inherent problems associated with conventional meat production. However, current limitations on the scalability of production and extremely high production costs have prevented their widespread adoption. Therefore, it is important to develop novel engineering strategies to overcome the current limitations in large-scale cultured meat production. Such engineering considerations have the potential for advancements in cultured meat production by providing innovative and effective solutions to the prevailing challenges. In this review, we discuss how engineering strategies have been utilized to advance cultured meat technology by categorizing the production processes of cultured meat into three distinct steps: (1) cell preparation; (2) cultured meat fabrication; and (3) cultured meat maturation. For each step, we provide a comprehensive discussion of the recent progress and its implications. In particular, we focused on the engineering considerations involved in each step of cultured meat production, with specific emphasis on large-scale production. Impact statement In this review, we discuss how engineering strategies can be extensively applied throughout the production steps of cultured meat, which are (1) cell preparation; (2) cultured meat fabrication; and (3) cultured meat maturation. Furthermore, we specifically highlight the state-of-the-art engineering strategies involved in each step, with specific emphasis on large-scale production.