Providing solutions for end-to-end product and process development in cultivated meat
Working at the forefront of the cultivated meat revolution
By supporting businesses in their pursuit of creating innovative food products, CPI is fostering growth and promoting development across the sector.
Through CPI’s National Food Innovation Centre, we support innovators to access our expertise, food-grade facilities, and HACCP-qualified teams to accelerate process development and assess processes for food safety.
Opportunities in cultivated meat
Globally, meat consumption is at the highest it’s ever been. And with production predicted to double by 2050 it shows no sign of slowing down anytime soon. This growing appetite for meat creates a dilemma: can we continue our current eating habits while also reducing our environmental impact?
Currently, traditional methods of meat production account for 57% of greenhouse gas emissions. But through alternatives like cultivated meat, we can provide real animal products while reducing our impact on the environment.
However, the industry still faces the challenge of bringing innovative new products to the mainstream market, with scalability, affordability, and consumer perceptions among the key concerns for companies operating in the sector.
Our cultivated meat capabilities
CPI’s cultivated meat capabilities are broad and wide-ranging. They are designed to de-risk process and product development, accelerate innovation, and reduce time to market.
CPI can support customers to develop a range of end products in the alternative protein market including cultivated meat and seafood, cultivated dairy products and cultivated fats and oils.
Our expertise with various cell types, including pluripotent stem cells, muscle and fat cell line precursors, and primary cells across various species, allows us to streamline tech transfer and accelerate cell-specific development work, including optimising cell growth and differentiation processes, assay development, and cell characterisation.
Our offer for innovators
This includes upstream development as well as downstream processing and formulation. We can also assist in the processing and development of cell lines, cultivation media, and scaffolds. Our dedicated process engineering team also supports the design, modelling, and optimisation of novel bioreactors and processes.
Our facilities, including the Novel Food Innovation Centre in Tees Valley, offer companies access to industry-leading expertise and cutting-edge food-grade manufacturing systems. We are registered as a food business and are FSSC22000 certified. We can prepare material for testing and small scale pre market manufacture (under HACCP). These globally recognised food safety standards under which CPI operate allow us to produce materials at our Novel Food Innovation Centre for consumer testing.
Challenges and opportunities for the cultivated meat industry
Download our cultivated meat infographic to learn about the size of the market, see an overview of the end-to-end scale-up process, and discover the capabilities at our open-access Centre.
How CPI can support your project
Cell line development
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Process development for adherent, microcarrier and suspension-based systems.
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Media screening/optimisation using manual and semi-high-throughput robotic systems.
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Recombinant growth factor production using our precision fermentation and downstream processes expertise and facilities.
Cell culture media
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High throughput process screening/design of experiments using Ambr 250 robotic systems (including with perfusion and MS) to rapidly define optimal cell culture conditions, cell lines and media.
Process development, optimisation and scale-up
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Lab-scale demonstration to evaluate scale-up and develop robust mammalian cell culture process optimisation, up to 10L STRs and 25L rocking wave bioreactors.
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Pilot-scale demonstration using single use 50L and 200L STRs.
Formulation and scaffold development
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Formulation of bespoke, tunable bioinks and scaffolds (including micelles and hydrogels).
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Material characterisation including texture analysis, cell adhesion and compatibility testing, and assessment of material properties (rheology, stability, and microscopy).
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Surface modification of vessels or microcarriers.
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Encapsulation of bitter flavours and novel structures for improved bioavaialbility.
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Additive manufacturing including design and printing of 3D structures for process equipment and meat products.
Process safety and engineering
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Process and cost modelling including economic viability assessment, techno economic assessment, life cycle analysis and computational fluid dymamics.
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Process design and consultancy including bioreactor design and scale-up.
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Process optimisation, troubleshooting, process characterisation and prototyping.
Downstream processing
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Lab-scale DSP proof of concept verification.
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Scale up of lab-scale processes to pilot and demonstration scale.
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Development of optimal and scalable DSP to isolate and purify target molecules.
Our track record of innovation
Check out more innovation in biotechnology.
3D Bio-Tissues: formulating growth media for cultivated meat production
The promise of cultivated meat – are we any closer to this being a truly affordable and sustainable protein source?
Let’s innovate together
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