1. Technology map 1.1. Description of the technology In-vitro meat (also known as cultured meat or animal-free meat) is an innovation based on the idea of manufacturing meat products by applying tissue-engineering technology. The process consists of extracting starter cells of animal origin and growing them artificially in a synthetic culture media through self-organization or scaffolding techniques (Futurefood.org, 2015). The whole procedure takes place inside a bioreactor, where parameters such as temperature and mechanical/electrical stimuli are controlled to facilitate the production of meat tissues. Several types of cells have been investigated to assess whether they could find an application in cultured meat. Skeletal muscle tissue is …show more content…
They can be extracted from livestock with no pain or harm via biopsy; isolation and characterization of satellite cells has been carried out successfully for various farm animals such as cattle, sheep, pigs, and chickens (Li et al., 2011). Scaffold based techniques use micro carriers where satellite cells attach and consequently grow by means of a culture medium. Recent experiments employed animal-sourced calf serum, as it is still superior to artificial surrogates; however, one of the major challenges to overcome is to produce animal-free growth media. There are examples of such products in the medical field, but new solutions need to be found to make them cheaper and more effective (van der Valk et al., 2010). Inside the bioreactor, myoblasts proliferate seeding onto the substrate, gradually converging to myotubes. As the differentiation phase begins, myotubes form various myofibers that eventually make up synthetic meat products (Bhat, Kumar & Fayaz, 2015). In the future, scaffolds able to stretch periodically should ease such processes, simulating the natural movements of animals. This technique is protected with a worldwide patent by William van Eelen (van Eelen et al., 1999). However, it can only be applied to produce relatively simple meat products, such as burgers, nuggets or sausages; outputs characterized by a complex structure (like stake), require self- organizing