Lab-grown fat cells offer promise for cultivated meat, according to research from The Roslin Institute. A source of fat cells from pigs has been developed in the lab that offers scientists and food manufacturers a promising tool for the large-scale production of cultivated meat without the need for genetic modification.
“We didn’t simply develop a tool, we made a very special discovery,” says Tom Thrower, lead researcher at The Roslin Institute. “The fact that these cells not only grow indefinitely but also retain their ability to become fat at such high efficiency is something we have never seen before in livestock stem cells. It opens the door to new possibilities in cultivated meat and beyond.”
Researchers say the development could address the challenge of generating realistic, sustainable animal fat — a significant hurdle in the cultivated meat industry as the new cells are capable of efficiently producing fat tissue with consistency.
“The cells, known as FaTTy, are formed from early-stage stem cells which develop into fat and can grow indefinitely in the lab without losing the ability to reliably produce fat cells,” the Roslin Institute reports. “In contrast, most animal stem cells quickly lose this capability, making large-scale use impractical.”
This helps meet the need for fat as a key component in delivering the flavor and texture consumers expect from meat, the article says.
Researchers grew stem cells derived from five piglets and discovered cells from one of the piglets was able to reproduce hundreds of times without the need for gene editing. The results also showed that the fat produced closely resembled native pig fat in its composition, with slightly higher levels of healthier monounsaturated fats.
“These fat cells have the potential to be a game-changer in the field of cultivated meat and will help make this a reality in the very near future,” says Xavier Donadeu, principal investigator at The Roslin Institute.
This research was published in NPJ Science of Food.
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