Agriculture Integrates Lab-Grown Protein

Researchers at Yonsei University, South Korea, have developed a technique to combine bovine fat and muscle cells with rice grains by using fish gelatine and edible enzymes. Produced in a petri dish over the course of a week, the meat cells use rice as a scaffolding to grow, resulting in a slightly nutty umami rice with meat cells embedded throughout. It contains 8% more protein and 7% more fat than standard rice and can be boiled or steamed.

The developers claim that the resulting product constitutes a more sustainable way to create a complete meal, emitting an estimated 6kg of CO2 per 100g of protein – while traditional beef releases about 50kg. Unlike some cell-based meat products, the process uses inexpensive, recognisable and non-GM ingredients that offer high nutritional value, according to researcher Jinkee Hong. As such, it could be used to offer famine relief, for military rations, or even space food.

Meanwhile, Luxembourg-based cultivated meat start-up Moolec has designed a process to insert pig genes into soya plants so that soya beans can express porcine proteins. The pink-hued beans have a meaty flavour and could be used to enhance the taste of plant-based meat products – or even meat products like sausages, which often include soya as a filler.

The start-up currently grows the beans under lab conditions, but it hopes to move production outside in 2025. See also Veganism Forecast: 23/24 for how Israeli researchers have used a similar process to create a lettuce that expresses casein protein for vegan cheese production.

For more about the future of cultivated meat, read Food in 2030 and Food + Tech Trends: 24/25.