Project Name:
Omics guided technologies for scalable production of cultured meat
URL Identifier:
meat
Project Description:
The demand for dietary protein is growing with the global population. Intensive beef farming contributes significant GHG emissions to the atmosphere, and while there are ways to decrease this, we need more ways to get enough protein in our diets if Canada is to reach carbon neutrality by mid-century. Cultivated meat (also known as cultivated, cell-based or lab-grown meat) is emerging as an alternative protein source. Much like the way yoghurt and beer are made, these products are cultivated directly from animal cells in a nutrient-rich medium in stainless steel bioreactors. Formation of meat-like textures can then be triggered by seeding cells into organic scaffolds. Prototype lifecycle analyses indicate that gram for gram, cultivated meat will have a small fraction of the environmental impact (measured by GHG emissions, energy, land and water use) of traditional beef. However, to reach cost parity with animal based meat, the culturing process must be more efficient and the culture media must become much less expensive. Furthermore, will Canadians buy and eat it? We want to address these challenges so that cultivated meat can be part of a diverse and resilient agrifood system in Canada. Our project tackles cost and GHG inefficiencies along the production chain to make cultivated meat commercially viable. We will use genomics and proteomics to (1) isolate and catalog cells grown from tiny muscle biopsies of beef cattle to find the types of cells best suited for cultivated meat production; (2) make cell culture media nutritious and affordable, preferably using agricultural by-products; (3) optimize bioreactor conditions for growing large numbers of cells; (4) formulate protein scaffolds for meat cells to grow in that will taste and feel like real meat; and (5) engineer both a meat patty and a slab meat (steak like) prototype. This research will be augmented by machine learning to process the vast amounts of data generated. We will ask important social science questions including (1) What do Canadians think of cultivated meat and how does the way we present the information to them affect their responses? (2) What ethical, social and cultural factors affect perceptions of cultivated meat and related technologies? (3) How do the technical advances we hope to make affect the carbon footprint of the final product? Our research will have wider applications in the production of cultivated chicken, fish, and seafood, and the genomics data we generate will help livestock producers farm more sustainably.
Principal Investigator (PI):
 
HUB-Harmonization Link:
 
Contact Email:
admin@csdcc.ca