Development of Hollow-fibre Bioreactor Technology (HFB) to enable resource-efficient cultivated meat production

For years, meat has been the main source of protein globally. However, the health, environmental and animal welfare concerns of traditional meat production have driven the search for alternatives. Cultivated meat products represent an incredible opportunity to provide an alternative (and complementary) method to traditional farming methods to keep up with the growing demand of the global population.

It is the alternative that would meet customer's expectations the most accurately. It frees up land and requires less water than livestock farming. Cultivated meat could address the protein shortage for a global population projected to reach 9.5bn by 2050\. However, the cultivated meat industry is still in its infancy and although processes have been tested and validated, scaling the technology at low-cost remains an immense challenge.

This consortium brings together innovative tissue engineering and bioreactor specialist, Cellular Agriculture (CellAg), and Campden BRI (CBRI), the UK's largest independent food and drinks R&D organisation. This project intends to optimise, test and validate the scalability of hollow-fibre bioreactors (HFB) to produce cultivated meat products. HFB has significant advantages compared to current state-of-the-art bioreactors (e.g.stirred-tank/fixed-bed) with increased cell density, compact design, cost-efficiency and lower emissions which would unlock the commercial viability of cultivated meat production.

Building on proof-of-concept work led by CellAg, the consortium will develop an HFB system prototype demonstrator that will be optimised at CBRI's facilities. CBRI will then collaborate with CellAg to test production samples and develop food quality, safety, regulatory, economic and sustainability assessments.

This project will enable CellAg to further develop and test the HFB to rapidly commercialise their technology post-project to food manufacturers and cultivated meat companies. This project will put CBRI at the forefront of innovative food research by developing a cutting-edge cultivated meat production system. The knowledge acquired during the project will also be productised by CBRI in the form of e-learning courses and supporting services.