3D Printed Lab Grown Meat

The world demand for meat has more than tripled in the past 50 years and continues to grow. The production of meat significantly contributes to the emission of greenhouse gases which impact the environment by contributing to global warming. In an effort to address the continuing demand for meat, several companies have been developing a product known as cultivated or cultured meat. Cultivated meat involves the extraction of cells from a living animal. The cells are then placed in a bioreactor along with nutrients to make the cells proliferate.

3d printing sometimes plays a role in the development of the cultured meat. A company in Korea is developing lab grown shrimp. On its own, the cultured cells would take on the shape of whatever container they are in. Korean company, CellMEAT uses a 3d bioprinter to place the cells into a shrimp-shaped scaffold made of biogel. The biogel provides nutrients for the shrimp and as it matures, the biogel dissolves away to leave the cultivated shrimp.

An American based company, Good Meats has recently received FDA approval to produce cultivated chicken. They do not use 3d printing in the production their product, so their chicken appears more like boneless chicken filets and nuggets. In July 2023, world renowned chef José Andrés began serving Good Meats cultivated chicken in one of his restaurants.
It takes about 30 days to develop lab grown chicken as compared to the 6 -8 weeks needed to raise chickens for food. However, the cost of cultivating the cells is high and current evidence shows that the environmental impact of developing such products are not better than that of conventional meat production. Hopefully future technological advances will bring down the cost of production and reduce the environmental impact as well has provide enough meat to match demand.