The FDA gave the second safety nod to cultivated meat

Ivy Farm: An in vitro bioreactor to grow, sell, and eventually certify for ground pork as a cultivated meat product

It is a bit dense on the smaller side which is not the classic version that you would expect at an Italian restaurant with red checkers and a parmesan wheel. But it’s well browned on the outside, and the flavor is full and savory. The scent of just-cooked pork hangs in the kitchen.

We are sitting on the edge of Oxford researching the experience of eating a meatballs: it is a science experiment. The centerpiece of my lunch is a British startup called Ivy Farm Technologies that operates a bioreactor in the next room.

We know how to grow cells. The lead scientist for cultivated meat at the Good Food Institute knows how to turn them into components of meat. “But we’ve never done it at the scale necessary for food.”

With the path to market becoming clearer, companies quickly need to crack the code of mass production — the only way they’ll be able to move from making small batches to supplying restaurants and grocery stores. The Ivy Farm can make 6,000 pounds of meat each year thanks to Betty. According to the USDA estimates, Americans consume less than 80 pounds of red meat a year.

Lab-grown meat — or “cultivated” meat, as industry insiders have settled on calling it — may sound far-fetched. It is closer to dinner plates than it has been before.

The sector has seen an explosion of funding in the past two years. Ivy Farm’s new 18,000- square-foot pilot plant has a 159-gallon bioreactor dubbed Betty, and a shiny new test kitchen. There’s ample space for its 50-person staff to work, perched on beanbags or meeting tables beside slogans like “We are forking fearless.”

Regulators are getting on board. Last month the US Food and Drug Administration said for the first time that lab-grown meat is safe to eat. Right now, Singapore is alone in allowing the sale of cultivated meat to consumers, having issued a green light in late 2020.

The process takes about three weeks, estimates Ivy Farm, whose name is a play on IV, or “in vitro.” The startup is experimenting with both beef and chicken, but is focused on ground pork first.

Despite the investment boom, the industry hasn’t figured out how to rapidly scale up production to meet demand and drive down costs. The first lab-grown burger, served up in 2013, cost more than $300,000 to develop. The Ivy Farm says it could produce a product for less than $50, an improvement over the previous price of a Big Mac.

Then there’s the question of consumer appetites. Many people don’t like the concept of meat products being cultivated.

The head of the venture capital giant’s first cultivated meat investment this year said some people will gravitate toward novelty and excitement while others will wait. The taste and cost will go a long way in this case.

Demand for meat is increasing as the global population marches past 8 billion and the middle class expands in countries like China. Meeting that demand could jeopardize hopes of keeping global warming in check.

The livestock industry accounts for nearly 15% of man-made greenhouse gas emissions, according to the United Nations. The estimated 7.1 gigatons of emissions the sector churns out per year is greater than 2019 emissions from the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany combined. Razing trees for livestock grazing is also behind almost 40% of global forest loss.

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First they extract a bunch of cells from chickens. Then they feed the cells a mix of proteins, fats and carbohydrates — the same things the cells would get if they were in an animal’s body. Then the cells start to proliferate and grow.

The sector experienced a huge breakthrough last month when the FDA backed the safety findings of Upside Foods, a startup in California making lab-grown chicken. It could be sold to consumers after additional inspections from the US Department of Agriculture.

Ivy Farm may be interested in testing the process with larger tanks in the United States, but it is not certain that it can be reproduced with bigger tanks. Nutrient solutions for feeding the cells are also made up of components historically used by the biopharmaceutical industry. They are expensive if supplies are limited.

“Most of the industry is having to use materials [priced] for medical research,” said Marianne Ellis, a professor at the University of Bath studying this issue.

Ivy Farm isn’t giving up on a big bang: The good, the bad, the ugly: working with the USDA to clear the last hurdle

Innovation is possible, but requires money. Strict economic conditions are making it hard for startups to get funding. According to data from PitchBook, venture capital has poured over $3 billion into meat startup over the past two years. But global recession fears have stoked skepticism of companies that won’t be profitable for a long time.

Ivy Farm isn’t stopping even though there is a gap. The company is working with Dennis Group, which has built plants for companies like Danone, to scope its options in the United States.

Japanese, Israeli and Australian companies are making lab-grown beef steaks, sushi-grade salmon, and other products. High-end consumers are expected to be the first to try innovations like cultivated fois gras.

The regulatory agency issued a “no questions” letter as part of its pre-market consultation, which means the agency agrees with the company’s conclusion that its cultivated chicken is safe to consume.

Now, the company must obtain a grant of inspection from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to operate its production facility in Alameda, Calif. “We are working with the USDA to clear that last hurdle,” GOOD Meat CEO Josh Tetrick told NPR by text.

The company says celebrity chef José Andrés has agreed to offer GOOD Meat’s chicken to his customers at one of his restaurant in Washington, D.C. “It’s going to be something in his restaurants, that’s for sure,” Tetrick said.

Friedrich says that consumers and future generations deserve the foods they love made more sustainable and in ways that benefit the public good: ways that protect our climate and global health.

Espirito Santo says to think about yeast. The processes are the same. We feed them with nutrients, and they will multiply until we tell them to stop,” he says.

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The meat grows inside the tanks. After it comes out, it’s molded into shapes such as nuggets or a fillet. After three to four weeks, they’re ready for the grill.