MeaTech 3D, a technology company developing cultured meat products, has revealed its latest move to establish, own and operate a pilot plant to commence scaled-up cultured chicken fat production in 2022. Simon Fried, head of business development at MeaTech, speaks to FoodIngredientsFirst about the future plans and evolution, its latest acquisition and the technology behind the company’s success.

“The goal is to have that facility be something that can leverage commercial attraction by the end of next year,” he explains. “It’s certainly something that should take us beyond internal use and engage us with the outside world in a commercially viable way.”

“If the pilot facility has the capacity, then the aim is to have industry collaborations that allow our ingredients to be accessible, testable and perhaps developed for specific counterparties or partnerships”, Fried notes. 

MeaTech intends to use the pilot facility to showcase the company’s capabilities to potential customers. MeaTech’s business model involves licensing the intellectual property surrounding its cultured chicken fat technologies, including cell lines, bioprocesses and downstream technologies, to B2B customers that want cellular agriculture manufacturing capabilities.

Collaborating with Peace of Meat
The move is part of a strategy to develop hybrid foods based on chicken fat from MeaTech 3D’s recently acquired Antwerp-based subsidiary Peace of Meat. 

Peace of Meat has already performed several taste tests that have demonstrated the potential of cultured chicken fat to improve the properties of plant-based protein products. Bovine and avian cell research and development and scaling of technologies will continue to be performed at MeaTech 3D and Peace of Meat, respectively.

“Our mission is to start scaling those volumes up, ideally then to have enough product that we can keep up the good work that Peace of Meat has already been doing with FMCG brands and food technologists and ultimately see what we can bring to the table next,” Fried explains. 

Spotlight on cultured chicken fat
This latest announcement is consistent with MeaTech’s vision of developing sustainable premium cultured foods. The company’s goal is to produce cultured chicken fat for use in potential industry collaborations.

As observed in laboratory work and public taste tests, cultured chicken fat can significantly enhance the flavor, mouthfeel and texture of plant-based alternative meat products while reducing the total number of ingredients.

According to Fried, each company has its strengths and weaknesses, but one crucial aspect is the quality of the cell line and the density that they can grow. 

“The more cells you can get in, the more productive your process is going to be. Another factor is the hardiness of the cells and how many cells survive.”

“Each time the cells divide, it can take a toll on them. And so there are only so many times they can divide and replicate successfully,” he continues. “This is an exponential environment. There’s a huge difference in the ability to produce at scale at volume. Those are the aspects that are important to us and anyone who’s in the cellular biology space.”

Beef vs. chicken cells
The company’s initial focus in Israel is on cultured beef. Fried says MeaTech is working with stem cells and differentiating them into muscle cells and fat cells. 

“Any cultured meat company will be looking to produce certainly at a bare minimum, and then muscle and fat cells, and so on, so we’re doing that with beef or bovine cells, fat and muscle. And, what Peace of Meat is doing is focusing on avian cells; and there’s quite a big difference in these in terms of biology,” he underscores. 

“From a biological perspective, there is a bigger opportunity to scale production of fat cells, and more specifically, avian cells,  and that’s the one that’s closest to being ready for a breakout into commercial activity.”

According to Fried, beef and chicken are the two biggest markets. “They are dominant markets that look specifically toward the US and Europe. 

With the recent announcement of Eat Just gaining regulatory approval for cell-cultured chicken, Fried says it’s possible that avian cells “could be easier to scale and bring to market,’ than other meat cells, such as beef and pork. 

Beyond hybrid innovation
According to Fried, a little bit of cultured technology can go a long way. 

In terms of hybrid products, it can be very attractive for companies who see a demand for a better chicken nugget, for example. 

The resulting hybrid food products, composed of plant and cultured meat ingredients, can offer a meatier product to consumers compared to purely plant-based meat alternatives. 

“So these are hybrid products that can go beyond innovation, and so far, we’ve seen very encouraging results,” Fried adds. 

3D bioprinting technology
MeaTech was founded by people with a background in 3D printing. 

“And so, our approach is very much around how we can deploy 3D printing to ensure that we’re developing cells that can be mixed into some kind of end product,” Fried notes.

“Bioprinting is entirely a field on its own,” he continues. “It’s not only a question of scaling up the biology side of things, but it’s also scaling up the bioprinting side of things.”

“After having looked at what’s available, it was apparent to us. If one wants to scale, you need to make your own machine. And so we do have a dedicated team working on building machines for the production of tissue at volume.” 

MeaTech is designing its own printheads and has recently applied for a patent. “Using the cells that we’ve made, they still need to be formulated inks that work in the printer, so there’s a whole new process that needs to be developed. You also need printers that can print quickly enough to make this type of food production process viable,” Fried concludes.

Last month, MeaTech 3D’s wholly-owned subsidiary, MeaTech Europe, commenced food-tech development activities, with an initial focus on hybrid food offerings composed of both plant and cultured fat and protein ingredients.