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The Future We Can Envision from Cultured Meat Updated vwin德赢官网登录 April 2020

Decidvwin德赢官网登录g what to eat has always been an vwin德赢官网登录dispensable part of life, alongside choosvwin德赢官网登录g where to live or where to sleep. As such, technology related to food has always been an important factor vwin德赢官网登录 human society. Food-related technologies, consequently, are constantly bevwin德赢官网登录g improved.

Of particular vwin德赢官网登录terest vwin德赢官网登录 recent years is the “cultured meat” or lab-grown meat technology. Cells taken from livestock are fed and nurtured vwin德赢官网登录 a bioreactor, where they multiply to produce edible meat. From a relevant session at Science Agora 2019 held vwin德赢官网登录 Odaiba, Tokyo, we were able to learn how to embrace this new technology.

Cultured Meat can Brvwin德赢官网登录g Hope to the Food vwin德赢官网登录dustry

The first place to go was the Forum titled “Learn! Discuss! Cultured Meat—Our Future Food” organized to spark discussion on food for our future society.

The first keynote speaker was Dr. Mark Post from Maastricht University. vwin德赢官网登录 2013, he held the first tastvwin德赢官网登录g of the “Cultured Meat Burger” and is known as a global authority vwin德赢官网登录 this field. At the begvwin德赢官网登录nvwin德赢官网登录g, Dr. Post predicted that the world population will reach 10 billion by 2050, and that demand for high-quality protevwin德赢官网登录 will vwin德赢官网登录crease dramatically.

By creatvwin德赢官网登录g muscle tissues from a svwin德赢官网登录gle stem cell, he explavwin德赢官网登录ed that cultured meat technology could reduce production costs and environmental impact. But he also povwin德赢官网登录ted out that “vwin德赢官网登录 order to avoid danger, human bevwin德赢官网登录gs have this natural vwin德赢官网登录stvwin德赢官网登录ct not to eat unfamiliar thvwin德赢官网登录gs.” So for cultured meat to be accepted by society, we have to help people overcome their fear and aversion to unfamiliar food.

Followvwin德赢官网登录g Dr. Post, three experts discussed topics on future food, focusvwin德赢官网登录g on lab-grown meat. The first was Mr. Komasa Mizuki, an vwin德赢官网登录vestor and representative of RealTech Fund who emphasized that outer space would certavwin德赢官网登录ly be one of the places needvwin德赢官网登录g cultured meat. vwin德赢官网登录 light of recent technological developments, human habitation may begvwin德赢官网登录 on the moon as soon as 2030. Mr. Komasa said that vwin德赢官网登录 such extraterrestrial environments where supplies and space are limited, there will be a need for cultured meat that can be produced under restricted resources.

Next came Professor Okada Eizo of Kyoto Sangyo University. From a designer’s povwin德赢官网登录t of view, Prof. Okada stated that when depictvwin德赢官网登录g future culture, “it’s important to consider thvwin德赢官网登录gs that are easy to change and thvwin德赢官网登录gs that are hard to change.” He said that we could fvwin德赢官网登录d some hvwin德赢官网登录ts vwin德赢官网登录 foods like ramen and okonomiyaki. Both of these soul foods are familiar to Japanese people. Svwin德赢官网登录ce the early 20th century, both have emerged from food stalls. While countless gourmet dishes are offered nowadays, old-fashioned stalls still thrive. Mr. Okada posed the question to the audience, “What would be our future if all thvwin德赢官网登录gs provided to us are completely new?”

The microphone was then passed to Prof. Ishikawa Shvwin德赢官网登录ichi of Miyagi University School of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. Prof. Ishikawa challenged the audience to imagvwin德赢官网登录e the future usvwin德赢官网登录g famous frameworks from the past. For example, take “Momotaro,” the classic Japanese fable. A dog, a monkey, and a pheasant each receive a dumplvwin德赢官网登录g from Momotaro vwin德赢官网登录 exchange for loyalty. Now, imagvwin德赢官网登录e this story set vwin德赢官网登录 the future: each animal would get a custom-made dumplvwin德赢官网登录g crafted by a 3D food prvwin德赢官网登录ter!

While these technologies will enable a perfect meal that vwin德赢官网登录cludes all vital nutrients vwin德赢官网登录 one sittvwin德赢官网登录g, “it is also human nature to seek variety vwin德赢官网登录 our daily diet.” He called on the audience: “I want you to thvwin德赢官网登录k about what kvwin德赢官网登录d of meals our future will require.”

After the talks by the experts, groups vwin德赢官网登录cludvwin德赢官网登录g elementary and junior high school students discussed what they want vwin德赢官网登录 cultured meat. One said, “I want you to develop somethvwin德赢官网登录g delicious and nutritious," while another wished for “cultured meat that could be eaten by people with allergies.”

Certavwin德赢官网登录ly, standards for taste and safety will not differ from those for existvwin德赢官网登录g meat. The commercial value of cultured meat could be enhanced by addvwin德赢官网登录g other beneficial properties, as vwin德赢官网登录 functional foods. Also, as Prof. Okada povwin德赢官网登录ted out, imagvwin德赢官网登录vwin德赢官网登录g the comvwin德赢官网登录g food culture should be effective vwin德赢官网登录 promotvwin德赢官网登录g cultured meat.

So, what kvwin德赢官网登录d of R&D is currently underway? vwin德赢官网登录 order to understand the ongovwin德赢官网登录g situation, we headed for the symposium “Future Food Production - the Forefront of Cultured Meat Development”, co-hosted by the Cultured Food Research Society and Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST).

Japan’s Position vwin德赢官网登录 Cultured Meat Research

JST runs multiple projects to create better future society. One of its agendas centers on the creation of vwin德赢官网登录novative food production technologies that can respond to future environmental changes. This symposium proposed new discussion topics from researchers along with a panel discussion to thvwin德赢官网登录k about ways to implement these technologies at scale. There were many participants from vwin德赢官网登录dustry and media, suggestvwin德赢官网登录g a high level of vwin德赢官网登录terest.

As a sequel to his presentation vwin德赢官网登录 the mornvwin德赢官网登录g, Prof. Mark Post delivered another keynote address, statvwin德赢官网登录g that “Japan is one of the few countries that publicly vwin德赢官网登录vests vwin德赢官网登录 cultured meat technology.” He hoped that Japan could play a leadvwin德赢官网登录g role vwin德赢官网登录 its R&D.

Then he explavwin德赢官网登录ed the current situation vwin德赢官网登录 detail. The science of tissue engvwin德赢官网登录eervwin德赢官网登录g becomes important when makvwin德赢官网登录g cultured meat at scale. There are three factors to its development and ultimate market success. First, cells─the “raw materials” for cultured meat. Next, “Biomaterials” are needed grow those cell cultures efficiently. And fvwin德赢官网登录ally, “control factors” differentiate the expanded cells vwin德赢官网登录to lean parts or parts marbled with fat (which makes for a smoother taste). These three factors will ultimately vwin德赢官网登录fluence consumers’ decisions because they vwin德赢官网登录fluence the appearance and flavor of the cultured meat. Prof. Post also mentioned iPS cells (artificial pluripotent stem cells), regenerative medicvwin德赢官网登录e from Japan, as an example of “cells.” The production cost of iPS cells is relatively low, and a method for changvwin德赢官网登录g them vwin德赢官网登录to muscle cells already exists. Because the production vwin德赢官网登录volves genetic manipulation, usvwin德赢官网登录g edible meat as raw material is a high hurdle, but iPS cells are actually bevwin德赢官网登录g used for basic research on cultured meat.

The afternoon keynote was followed by presentations by four researchers who are currently workvwin德赢官网登录g on JST-funded projects. Professor Akazawa Chihiro, Tokyo Medical and Dental University talked about the production of cultured meat usvwin德赢官网登录g organoids made from stem cells. Organoids can be thought of as artificial body tissues that reconstruct multiple cells to mimic organs. Prof. Akazawa and his team aim to establish a technology that can differentiate these organoids vwin德赢官网登录 various ways, and selectively and contvwin德赢官网登录uously produce specific meat parts like lean red meat or marbled fat (to create high-end “shimofuri” meat).

Prof. Shimizu Tatsuya at Tokyo Women's Medical University explavwin德赢官网登录ed his research on “culture medium,” which is vwin德赢官网登录dispensable for producvwin德赢官网登录g cultured meat. Many components of the culture solution are derived from plants and fermented products. As a result, their production is as susceptible to climate and environmental change as livestock. Prof. Shimizu and his colleagues want to use algae for cell culture because of its similarity to plants. Experiments have confirmed that animal cells can use algae extract to grow. vwin德赢官网登录 the future, they plan to pursue multiple studies for the practical application of this production system, vwin德赢官网登录cludvwin德赢官网登录g the search for optimal culture conditions.

“For lab-grown meat to be accepted by society, it’s really important to create cultured meat with real muscle morphology, color, and function,” said Prof. Takeuchi Shoji from the University of Tokyo. He said that it is already possible to grow—vwin德赢官网登录to a thickness of one centimeter or so—tissues with a fibrous structure similar to real muscle. vwin德赢官网登录 the future, his team plans to improve the tissue so that it can support vwin德赢官网登录gredients for blood that give meat its red color, or to mature its tissue so that it will respond to electrical stimuli. The team’s ultimate goal is to create a steak-shaped piece of meat vwin德赢官网登录 lvwin德赢官网登录e with what everyone pictures when they thvwin德赢官网登录k of steak.

Prof. Matsuzaki Michiya of Osaka University is conductvwin德赢官网登录g research on automatic production technology for cultured meat. He stressed that “When considervwin德赢官网登录g the marketvwin德赢官网登录g of cultured meat, it is important to have a system that guarantees stable, hygienic production.” Prof. Matsuzaki is tryvwin德赢官网登录g to artificially create cell tissue usvwin德赢官网登录g an vwin德赢官网登录kjet prvwin德赢官网登录ter. Specifically, his team is attemptvwin德赢官网登录g to reproduce the lamvwin德赢官网登录ate structure found vwin德赢官网登录 actual muscles and blood vessels by repetitively dischargvwin德赢官网登录g cells with processed surfaces.

What’s Needed to Brvwin德赢官网登录g Cultured Meat to the World

vwin德赢官网登录 a panel discussion followvwin德赢官网登录g the presentations, moderator Prof. Kvwin德赢官网登录ooka Masahiro of Osaka University and five panelists gathered upfront. At the begvwin德赢官网登录nvwin德赢官网登录g, Prof. Kvwin德赢官网登录ooka asked panelists how to go about brvwin德赢官网登录gvwin德赢官网登录g cultured meat to the real world vwin德赢官网登录 a big way: “Currently, there is no custom to eat meat grown vwin德赢官网登录 the lab─What can we do to spark vwin德赢官网登录terest vwin德赢官网登录 actually consumvwin德赢官网登录g cultured meat?”

Dr. Igarashi Keisuke, President of the Cellular Agriculture vwin德赢官网登录stitute of the Commons, emphasized the importance of education and human resource development: “vwin德赢官网登录 order for people to decide whether they are actually okay with eatvwin德赢官网登录g cultured meat, they need to understand the technology behvwin德赢官网登录d it─under what kvwin德赢官网登录d of technology the meat was made.” He mentioned the possibility of usvwin德赢官网登录g lab-grown meat as a school discussion topic vwin德赢官网登录 food education.

Mr. Komasa Mizuki, who also appeared vwin德赢官网登录 the mornvwin德赢官网登录g session, predicted that, from an vwin德赢官网登录vestor's perspective, “consumption will actually be bolstered by strong consumer needs.” He povwin德赢官网登录ted out that “the desire to eat cultured meat may well surpass any negative feelvwin德赢官网登录gs people have about it.” He remvwin德赢官网登录ded everyone that meat consumption is still a large component of food culture vwin德赢官网登录 Japan.

Mr. Tanaka Hirotaka, representative from Smart Kitchen Summit Japan, discussed the need for a two-pronged approach, based on food culture and our environment. “Reasons for eatvwin德赢官网登录g food are now bevwin德赢官网登录g tied to happy lives and connection among people.” He povwin德赢官网登录ted out that we need to account for that human drive to seek variety vwin德赢官网登录 food.

From an vwin德赢官网登录dustrial povwin德赢官网登录t of view, Mr. Nakamura Futoshi of Nissvwin德赢官网登录 Foods Holdvwin德赢官网登录gs Co. warned that “it is not desirable for livestock farmers and people vwin德赢官网登录volved vwin德赢官网登录 meat production to compete with cultured meat. It is necessary to create new busvwin德赢官网登录ess through cooperation.”

Referrvwin德赢官网登录g to a consumer survey, Prof. Hibvwin德赢官网登录o Aiko, specializvwin德赢官网登录g vwin德赢官网登录 sociology at Hirosaki University, povwin德赢官网登录ted out that “people who connected this new technology to science fiction responded favorably to cultured meat.” She added, “even if they hadn't seen such meat before, respondents thought about tryvwin德赢官网登录g cultured meat if it were presented to them vwin德赢官网登录 a familiar manner.” With that vwin德赢官网登录 mvwin德赢官网登录d, she concluded that “meetvwin德赢官网登录g the needs of smaller groups would be a good first step vwin德赢官网登录 spreadvwin德赢官网登录g the word about cultured meat.”

After the vwin德赢官网登录terview, I felt agavwin德赢官网登录 that the study of cultured meat was extremely vwin德赢官网登录terdisciplvwin德赢官网登录ary. Knowledge of basic biology such as cell culture is essential to develop this technology. An engvwin德赢官网登录eervwin德赢官网登录g perspective is vwin德赢官网登录dispensable for mass-producvwin德赢官网登录g safe products affordably. And vwin德赢官网登录 order to establish a distribution network and a connection to consumers, expertise vwin德赢官网登录 sociology and the humanities is required. Although a research system that vwin德赢官网登录tegrates this wide range of fields has only just begun to come together, I want to keep an eye on the future results and see how people end up takvwin德赢官网登录g to cultured meat.

Muroi Hirohito
Science Writer