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- The secret of the farm: the era of artificial meat is coming to Russia
The secret of the farm: the era of artificial meat is coming to Russia
Izvestia visited a farm in the Netherlands where artificial meat is grown. The technology underlying the project was created with the participation of Russian scientists. Experiments are also being conducted in our country, for example, specialists printed fragments of cow muscle tissue and received samples of fish and rabbit on the ISS. The first farm of cultured beef in the city of Schipluiden expects to produce up to 150 tons of products per year by 2030. What are the pros and cons of an innovative approach to food and whether it can save the planet from hunger — in the Izvestia article.
The first farm of cultured meat
— What you see here is a bioreactor. There are cells inside, they need nutrition, and this is oxygen," the co—founder of RespectFarms and CEO of KindEarth told the Izvestia correspondent.Tech Ira van Eelen, showing the installation in which the cells of the future meat are grown.
The conditions in the production facilities are as sterile as possible, all employees change clothes and undergo sanitary treatment before work. In total, three people work on the farm, but one person is enough to constantly maintain the experiment.
The world's first specialized farm for growing cultured meat opened in the Netherlands in early June. Located in Schipluiden, between The Hague and Rotterdam, the facility is based on an existing dairy farm. It was the result of "many years of development, collaboration and discussions."
In the future, new cow-sized bioreactors are planned to be installed on the farm. Ira van Eelen told Izvestia that by 2030 it is planned to produce 150 tons of such meat per year. In the future, the technology will make it possible to grow not only beef, but also other types of meat or even fish, depending on the demand and gastronomic preferences of different countries and regions. In the meantime, the company is focused specifically on beef production.
— Beef production is the most problematic from the point of view of ecology. Cows require large amounts of water, and they emit significant amounts of methane. In addition, a farmer is also needed to take care of them. Therefore, it is quite logical that we started beef production," explained Ira van Eelen.
It doesn't take a whole animal to grow meat — just a small sample of tissue containing thousands or millions of cells is enough. In the future, they multiply in a bioreactor and form muscle tissue. The output is a product that does not differ in its properties from traditional beef: it has the same smell, behaves similarly during cooking, and sizzles in the pan because it contains fat, like in hamburgers or steaks. At the same time, the animal does not go to slaughter, but continues to live, the representatives of the farm emphasize.
Another important advantage of such farms is environmental friendliness. Although the cells in bioreactors need nutrients for growth, the resource consumption in such production is significantly lower. According to the calculations of the project coordinators, the technology can reduce the use of water by 78%, land resources by 95%, and harmful emissions by 93% compared to traditional animal husbandry.
In addition to environmental goals, the project aims to help solve the structural problems of the agricultural sector, which are becoming more acute both in Europe and in the world.
— We interviewed more than 40 farmers in eight European countries — the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Denmark and Poland. The results were very different. Most do not yet understand what cultured meat is, so they perceive it as a product promoted by large corporations and billionaires, and consider it a threat to their craft," project coordinator Mikael Penvern told Izvestia.
However, about 10% of the respondents expressed interest in the new technology and saw it as a potential business model for the farm of the future. According to him, today the production of feed for farm animals accounts for about 44% of global consumption of natural resources, including water, soil and vegetation. Against this background, additional protein sources will be required, one of which may be cultured meat.
Russian contribution to the project
According to Ira van Eelen, the technology of growing meat from cages itself does not belong to European know-how, experts used, among other things, the achievements of scientists from Russia. In particular, in 2019, an experimental production of meat from calf muscle tissue was launched in Moscow under the leadership of Nikolai Shimanovsky, a Russian molecular pharmacologist and corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The cost of the project was about 1 million rubles, and in two years of work, the researchers managed to obtain 40 grams of the product.
In addition, similar experiments have been conducted in space, added Sergey Kosogor, head of the Smart Supply Chain segment of the FoodNet NTI working group. A fragment of cow muscle tissue, as well as tissue samples from fish and rabbit, were printed on board the ISS using a magnetic bioprinter.
— Our scientists are solving the problems of selecting the composition of the nutrient medium in order to reduce the cost of production of cultured meat. The muscle tissue of a newborn Aberdeen Angus calf was used as a donor material. In parallel, work was carried out to ensure the correct formation of muscle cells. At the same time, technological complexity remains one of the key challenges of the industry. Specialists with relevant experience are needed to develop this area, as well as specialized laboratories with equipment such as laminar flow boxes, bioreactors of various volumes, centrifuges and other installations," the expert noted.
Examples from the United States show that even market leaders have faced bankruptcies, primarily due to the high cost of technology, significant energy costs for the operation of bioreactors and product storage, he added.
Russia is not lagging behind global trends: there are strong scientific groups that are getting concrete results, Sergey Kosogor emphasized.
"Such projects can find applications in space during long—distance flights, but in order for the technology to reach the mass segment, there are still many tasks to be solved — from a full—fledged legal framework to understanding the mechanism of the impact of such products on the human body in the long term," the expert added.
The pros and cons of test tube meat
Cultured meat alone will not be able to solve the problem of world hunger, since it is associated not only with food production, but also with poverty, armed conflicts, price levels and food availability, Albert Rizvanov, head of the Personalized Medicine Center of Excellence at Kazan (Volga Region) Federal University, told Izvestia. However, this technology can become an additional and more sustainable source of protein. Its main environmental advantage is a significantly lower demand for land resources compared to traditional animal husbandry, he noted.
— Using clean energy and inexpensive food components, cultured meat can be more environmentally friendly than beef or pork. However, with energy—intensive production and the use of pharmaceutical grade ingredients, its ecological footprint may be comparable to or even exceed traditional meat, especially when compared with poultry meat, the expert believes.
According to Albert Rizvanov, cultured meat cannot be considered either obviously dangerous or a priori safer than traditional meat. We are talking about a product obtained from animal cells, so its safety is determined by the quality of the cell lines, the composition of the nutrient medium, the effectiveness of microbial contamination control, as well as the presence of allergens and residues.
— The advantages of the technology include the rejection of animal slaughter, the potential reduction in the use of antibiotics and the ability to regulate the content of fats and individual nutrients. The main limitations include high cost, difficulties with scaling up production, and the need to confirm the nutritional value of the product," the scientist noted.
Therefore, the site opened in the Netherlands is primarily an experimental farm, and not a ready—made solution for the mass market. At the same time, similar research and development is underway in Russia.
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