{"id":1229,"date":"2021-09-07T12:06:32","date_gmt":"2021-09-07T17:06:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/singularityumexicosummit.com\/?p=1229"},"modified":"2021-09-07T12:06:32","modified_gmt":"2021-09-07T17:06:32","slug":"new-cultured-meat-factory-will-churn-out-5000-bioreactor-burgers-a-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/singularityumexico.com\/en\/new-cultured-meat-factory-will-churn-out-5000-bioreactor-burgers-a-day\/","title":{"rendered":"New Cultured Meat Factory Will Churn Out 5,000 Bioreactor Burgers a Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

In August 2013, food critics in London sampled the world\u2019s first lab-grown hamburger<\/a>. Opinions on taste and texture varied, but most agreed it wasn\u2019t all that different than meat from an animal. At the time, the cultured meat\u2019s taste and texture didn\u2019t seem like too big of a concern, because the cost of making the burger\u2014a cool $330,000\u2014meant this technology was years away from reaching the average consumer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, eight years later, an Israeli company called\u00a0Future Meat Technologies<\/a>\u00a0has opened the world\u2019s first facility to produce lab-grown meat at scale, in an inland city south of Tel Aviv called Rehovot. While the company hasn\u2019t released an estimate of per-burger cost, it says the facility will be able to produce 500 kilograms of meat per day, which translates to about 5,000 burger patties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=8XUFrNQ7YSk&feature=emb_title\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Though burger production costs remain a mystery, Future Meat\u2019s\u00a0website<\/a>\u00a0does say it\u2019s already producing cultured chicken breasts at a cost of $3.90 apiece, breaking a price record in the industry. The\u00a0average retail price<\/a>\u00a0of a boneless chicken breast in the US is $3.37, and that\u2019s allowing for a profit for the producer and the retailer as well as covering the cost of transport and packaging.

Taken in this context, $3.90 is still quite high, and the figure will need to come down significantly to be competitive with factory-farmed meat\u2014but it\u2019s a far cry from the $330,000 burger, and costs will only continue to drop as the technology matures and operations scale.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Future Meat Technologies<\/a>\u2018 cultured chicken breast<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n


Taken in this context, $3.90 is still quite high, and the figure will need to come down significantly to be competitive with factory-farmed meat\u2014but it\u2019s a far cry from the $330,000 burger, and costs will only continue to drop as the technology matures and operations scale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAfter demonstrating that cultured meat can reach cost parity faster than the market anticipated, this production facility is the real game-changer,\u201d said Yaakov Nahmias, Future Meat Technologies founder and chief scientific officer, in a\u00a0press release<\/a>. \u201cThis facility demonstrates our proprietary media rejuvenation technology in scale, allowing us to reach production densities 10-times higher than the industrial standard.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Inside\u00a0Future Meat Technologies<\/a>\u2018 facility in Rehovot<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Cultured meat is made by extracting cells from animal tissue and giving them nutrients, oxygen, and moisture while keeping them at the same temperature they\u2019d be at inside an animal\u2019s body. The cells divide and multiply then start to mature, with muscle cells joining to create muscle fibers and fat cells producing lipids. The resulting nuggets of meat can be used to make processed products like burgers or sausages. Structured cuts of meat with blood vessels and connective tissue, like steak or chicken breast, require scaffolds, and researchers are\u00a0creating these with biomaterials<\/a>, like cellulose from plants. Companies are working on several varieties of more elaborate cultured products, from\u00a0bacon<\/a>\u00a0to\u00a0salmon<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

As reported by Bloomberg<\/em><\/a>, Future Meat aims to start offering its products in US restaurants by the end of next year\u2014but must get approval from the FDA first. On top of that approval, public opinion<\/a> is another hurdle the company and its competitors will need to clear before they see widespread success; for every person who\u2019s opposed to factory farming, there\u2019s a person who\u2019s squeamish about the idea of meat grown in a bioreactor, despite the avian (or bovine, or porcine) lives being spared. Getting these consumers to view cultured meat favorably will be a matter of education, taste\/texture as compared to the \u2018real thing<\/a>,\u2019 and cost competitiveness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nahmias is up for the challenge. \u201cOur goal is to make cultured meat affordable for everyone, while ensuring we produce delicious food that is both healthy and sustainable, helping to secure the future of coming generations,\u201d he\u00a0said<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Image Credit:\u00a0Yeti studio<\/a>\u00a0\/\u00a0Shutterstock.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Author:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vanessa is senior editor of Singularity Hub. She’s interested in renewable energy, health and medicine, international development, and countless other topics. When she’s not reading or writing you can usually find her outdoors, in water, or on a plane. Learn More<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Original Article<\/a><\/strong><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In August 2013, food critics in London sampled the world\u2019s first lab-grown hamburger. Opinions on taste and texture varied, but most agreed it wasn\u2019t all that different than meat from an animal. At the time, the cultured meat\u2019s taste and texture didn\u2019t seem like too big of a concern, because the cost of making the burger\u2014a […]\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1230,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"series":[],"class_list":["post-1229","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articulos-ingles"],"episode_featured_image":"https:\/\/singularityumexico.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/delicious-tasty-burger-future-of-food-shutterstock-671137990-1068x601-1.jpg","episode_player_image":"https:\/\/singularityumexico.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/11711533-1673157178559-89a95be153719-4-scaled.jpg","download_link":"","player_link":"","audio_player":false,"episode_data":{"playerMode":"dark","subscribeUrls":{"apple_podcasts":{"key":"apple_podcasts","url":"","label":"Apple Podcasts","class":"apple_podcasts","icon":"apple-podcasts.png"},"stitcher":{"key":"stitcher","url":"","label":"Stitcher","class":"stitcher","icon":"stitcher.png"},"google_podcasts":{"key":"google_podcasts","url":"","label":"Google Podcasts","class":"google_podcasts","icon":"google-podcasts.png"},"spotify":{"key":"spotify","url":"","label":"Spotify","class":"spotify","icon":"spotify.png"}},"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/singularityumexico.com\/en\/feed\/podcast\/the-feedback-loop-by-singularity","embedCode":"

New Cultured Meat Factory Will Churn Out 5,000 Bioreactor Burgers a Day<\/a><\/blockquote>