ISRAELI – Steakholder Foods, a pioneering force in the cultivated meat industry, has filed a provisional patent application for its groundbreaking “Immortal Bovine Cell Line” technology, poised to revolutionize the mass production of ethically-cultured meat products.
The patent application holds the promise of overcoming scalability challenges, significantly reducing the ecological footprint of traditional animal agriculture, and offering a sustainable solution to meet the growing demand for meat products while enhancing nutritional options.
The patent application unveiled a remarkable method for enhancing the growth and longevity of bovine cells, effectively immortalizing them in a relatively short timeframe.
At its core, the technology leverages the inherent self-duplication and differentiation abilities of stem cells, giving rise to immortal cell lines capable of generating various tissues like muscle and fat.
It addresses critical factors such as scale, repeatability, and growth, which are essential for the commercialization of cell-based meat technologies.
According to a spokesperson from Steakholder Foods, the potential of these immortal cells to proliferate numerous times means that the technology has the capacity to supply an unprecedented amount of meat without the need to slaughter animals.
In a remarkable projection, it is estimated that, over 100 generations of replications, a single cell in an immortal cell line could theoretically produce more than 3,250 trillion metric tons of meat.
Considering that approximately 350 million metric tons of meat are consumed annually, the introduction of immortal cell lines represented a pivotal step towards ensuring a sustainable and slaughter-free meat supply for the foreseeable future.
Meanwhile, Steakholder Foods has adopted a two-pronged approach to cell lines. The first involved the development of immortalized cells that could multiply reliably over time, with the patent and techniques for this method already fully developed and matured.
The second approach harnessed cell-line types with natural capabilities for prolonged proliferation, such as Embryonic Stem Cells (ESC) and Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPSC).
This breakthrough patent application is aimed to not only enhance the growth capacity of bovine cells but also ensure consistency, ultimately contributing to a stable and efficient growth process that reflects in production costs and product quality.
Steakholder Foods seeks to provide a renewable source for generating different tissues, effectively reducing the ecological impact of traditional animal agriculture while offering improved nutritional options.
In a parallel development, Steakholder Foods has collaborated with Omeat to launch “Plenty,” a nutrient-rich cell culture supplement designed for companies engaged in cultivated meat production, regenerative medicine, vaccine production, or cell-culture technology.
Plenty was formulated as an eco-friendly, slaughter-free alternative to fetal bovine serum.
The cultivated meat industry is experiencing a significant growth phase, with recent regulatory approvals and innovations taking center stage.
Notably, religious authorities have also deemed cell-based foods as halal and kosher, opening new avenues for consumer acceptance. Steakholder Foods is actively working with kosher and halal authorities to meet their standards.
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