A new study demonstrates the first low-cost method for producing cultured meat. The study shows that continuous manufacturing addresses key challenges of scalability and cost, potentially making cultured meat accessible to everyday consumers and contributing to a more sustainable and ethical food system.

In an extraordinary step for cellular agriculture, Professor Yaakov Nahmias, founder of Believer Meats, and a multidisciplinary team from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the cultured meat industry have unveiled a groundbreaking continuous manufacturing process for cultured meat. This innovation addresses the industry’s critical challenges of scalability and cost efficiency.

The study “Continuous Manufacturing of Cultivated Meat: Empirical Economic Analysis”, published in Natural fooddemonstrates the use of tangential flow filtration (TFF) for the continuous production of cultured meat. The new bioreactor setup enables biomass expansion to 130 billion cells per liter, achieving a yield of 43% weight per volume. The process was run continuously for 20 days, allowing daily biomass harvests.

In addition, the research introduces a culture medium without animal components that costs only $0.63 per liter and enables long-term, high-density cultivation of chicken cells. In other words, this continuous manufacturing process could significantly reduce the cost and complexity of producing cultured meat, potentially bringing it closer to the everyday consumer.

“We were inspired by how Ford’s automated assembly line revolutionized the automotive industry 110 years ago,” explained Prof. Nahmias. “Our results show that continuous manufacturing enables the production of cultured meat at a fraction of today’s cost, without resorting to genetic modification or mega-factories. This technology brings us closer to making cultured meat a viable and sustainable alternative to traditional animal agriculture.”

Bruce Friedrich, President of the Good Food Institute, expressed his support, stating, “GFI applauds the spirit of openness that continues to characterize cultured meat researchers like Dr. Nahmias and his colleagues. They understand that demonstrating the scientific potential of cultured meat benefits all scientists working in the field.”

This research represents a significant advance in the economic viability of cultured meat and addresses previous concerns about high costs and low yields. Using this empirical data, the team conducted a techno-economic analysis of a hypothetical 50,000-liter production facility. The analysis shows that the production cost of cultured chicken meat could theoretically be reduced to $6.20 per pound, which is the same price as organic chicken.

Dr. Elliot Swartz, Principal Scientist at Cultivated Meat, The Good Food Institute, highlighted the importance of the study results, saying: “This important study provides numerous data points that demonstrate the economic viability of cultured meat. The study confirms early theoretical calculations that serum-free media can be produced at a cost well below $1 per liter without sacrificing productivity. This is a key factor in making cultured meat cost competitive.”

Dr. Swartz added: “Empirical data form the basis of any cost model for scaled cultured meat production, and this study is the first to provide real-world empirical evidence of key factors that affect production costs, such as media costs, metabolic efficiency and achievable yields in a scalable bioprocess design.”

While the authors acknowledge that several other factors influence the final market price of cultured meat, this research highlights the potential of continuous manufacturing to significantly reduce production costs, making cultured meat more accessible to consumers and more competitive with conventional meat products.

This study not only highlights the potential of cellular agriculture in meeting global demand for animal products, but is also consistent with broader environmental and ethical goals by reducing dependence on traditional livestock farming.

The research represents the first demonstration of cost-effective production of cultured meat and the first empirical economic analysis based on solid data. It is a collaborative effort between engineers, biologists and chemists at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Believer Meats, which is currently building the world’s first large-scale production facility for cultured chicken meat.

With global demand for animal proteins expected to double by 2050, cellular agriculture offers a solution to meet this need, especially as resource-intensive livestock production reaches its maximum capacity. Despite recent FDA approvals for cultured meat production, large-scale production of cultured meat has not yet become a reality. Previous techno-economic analyses pointed to economic challenges ranging from factory to raw material costs, raising doubts about the viability of cultured meat production.

This work presents groundbreaking solutions including a novel filter stack perfusion to reduce factory costs, a non-animal-based medium to reduce raw material costs, and continuous manufacturing to increase factory capacity, projecting annual production of 2.14 million kilograms of breeder chickens at cost parity with USDA organic chickens even for a small 50,000-liter facility.

This technological advancement could have profound implications for animal welfare, food safety and nutritional security, and meet the needs of a global population increasingly affected by climate change. The study is expected to generate significant interest across many disciplines and gain mainstream media coverage due to its implications for the future of humanity.