Food Engineering: Plant based Meat / Greenstories

https://newatlas.com/science/vitamin-a-golden-meat-clean-cultured-genetically-engineered-tufts/

According to the BBC, Icelandic researchers are growing over 100,000 genetically engineered barley plants within a greenhouse for an unexpected purpose, that is for generating lab-grown beef.

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As per the BBC, this cutting-edge technology has the potential to slash prices, eliminate the use of live animals in the lab-grown meat business, and accelerate the scaling-up process. With meat accounting for approximately 60% of all greenhouse emissions produced by food production, this study might have far-reaching ramifications in the battle against climate change.

But how can barley make the transition from plant to meat? It all comes down to growth factors, which are proteins that promote tissue, muscle, and fat cell development.

A volcanic pumice-based hydroponic system at ORF Genetics’ greenhouse can sustain up to 130,000 barley plants at a time. Seeds from genetically modified barley are collected and refined to obtain growth factor proteins, which may subsequently be utilised to produce lab-grown beef utilising high-tech hydroponic culture methods.

This process which can then be used to create lab-grown meat — an advancement that might reduce the reliance on live animals in the lab-grown meat business in the future.

Many Genetics businesses behind the greenhouse are employing high-tech hydroponic growth methods to cultivate the biogenetically altered barley over huge square feet lands for this purpose.

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The growth factors derived from barley seeds perform a critical function in stem cell maintenance.ORF, one of such businesses, released a skincare/cosmetic product with growth hormones in 2010.

The business is seeking to access the cell-cultured beef market little over ten years later. Growth factors promote the development of tissues that make up these products, such as animal muscle and fat cells.

However, it is not entering the lab-grown meat industry with its bio-risk-free growth factors called MESOkine.

When compared to traditional growth factor sources, MESOkine is a barley seed extract that contains the purified recombinant growth factor as well as specific barley seed proteins. It’s billed as a “new, cost-effective, and scalable manufacturing technique.”

True, the cost of producing cell-based meats has come down over time. A Chinese biotech business, for example, recently presented its lab-grown swine, with the objective of attaining cost parity with traditionally acquired pork by 2025. Growth factors are still a pricey element that prevents broad production and commercialization, but MESOkine may be able to change that.

ORF Genetics’ CEO adds, “We are sure that ORF Genetics has the appropriate manufacturing platform to substantially lower the cost of growth factors in your cell-cultured meat production while also providing the amount of growth factors necessary.”

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Conclusion

With goods like Beyond Meat and Impossible Cuisine hitting the market, there’s a lot of interest in plant-based foods for reasons like sustainability, health, and ethics.

Many academics are just getting started in this field and are unaware of the complexities of animal products and the physicochemical principles required to assemble plant-based materials into these goods, each with its own physical, functional, nutritional, and sensory characteristics.