It’s essentially a matter of scale. Proteins such as soybeans and peas are mass-produced at very low prices, but the cultivated meat industry still relies on his chain of supplies that exist for the pharmaceutical industry, where margins are much higher. In Oxford, England, scientists at cultivated meat company Ivy Farm Technologies are making his pork meatballs, a hybrid made up of 51% pig cells, 7% pea protein, onions, herbs, and seasonings. increase. It costs about $20 to produce a single cultured meatball he’s tried at Ivy Farm’s pilot plant, and 95% of that cost was from animal cells, said Rich Dillon, CEO of Ivy. says.
This is why the main approach cultivated meat companies use to bring their products to market is likely hybrid, says Clear Current Capital, a venture capital firm specializing in cultivated and plant-based meat. Investor Steve Molino said. A blended burger is much closer to the price of a conventional burger than a fully cultured one. The total amount of meat produced can be negligible.
There are no large-scale cultured meat plants in the United States. Upside Foods has the largest pilot plant, capable of producing 50,000 pounds of farmed meat each year. By comparison, in 2021 the United States alone will produce 51 billion pounds of chicken. Even if farmed meat makes up less than 1% of the U.S. poultry supply, production will improve by leaps and bounds. “The supply is so small that even die-hard fans will be waiting, and all that supply can be used up very quickly,” he says Molino. . By mixing animal cells with plant-based proteins, this limited supply can be furthered, allowing companies to recoup more of the cost of building cultivated meat factories.
This may sound like a penny pinch, but mixing meat and plants is nothing new, notes Dillon. It’s relatively rare to find a ground meat product that doesn’t have at least a few extra ingredients added for flavor or flavor. It’s a way to sell meat that’s better for people and has a lower carbon footprint. In the UK, supermarket Tesco sells beef he meatballs blended with butternut squash and onions. However, it’s not clear if this kind of blend has any appeal. US meat company Tyson briefly produced meat-and-vegetable blend burgers and nuggets before removing them from shelves in 2020.
Mixing plant proteins with animal cells also allows cultivated meat companies to experiment with the ideal composition of new products, said Emma Lewis, chief commercial and product officer at Ivy Farm Technologies. said to They try to adjust the ratio of fat cells to muscle cells to create juicy or lean meatballs and tailor their meatballs for specific nutritional value. We also work with premium burger restaurants who are interested in creating burgers. “It could be the most sustainable meat, or potentially the most nutritious burger, and it still tastes exactly the same,” says Dillon.
