The Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa) has begun producing lab-grown meat. The experiment does not involve the slaughter of animals and has no environmental impact – unlike conventional livestock farming, which contributes to the greenhouse effect through deforestation and methane emissions.
The innovation is led by the company’s swine and poultry division, headquartered in Concórdia, Santa Catarina state, which has produced prototypes of chicken breast fillets. The project is also backed by the Nanobiotechnology Laboratory (LNANO) at Embrapa Genetic Resources and Biotechnology (Cenargen), based in Brasília.
The laboratory has developed samples of plant-based 3D-printed foods, such as salmon fillets, caviar, and squid rings.
The technique involves multiplying a sample of cells taken from live animals, similar to a small biopsy. The extracted sample is cultured in vitro in a liquid medium rich in oxygen and nutrients that allow the cells to multiply – such as glucose, amino acids, and minerals.
The production of cultured meat utilizes tissue engineering techniques to repair damaged biological tissues and cell biotechnology techniques, which use living cells or parts of them to deal with biological problems. These methods are common in regenerative medicine.
“We’ve managed to isolate the different cells that make up living muscle tissue. The sample contains a handful of muscle cells, some fat cells, and connective tissue cells. Next, we choose which cell we want and focus on mass-producing that cell type,” said veterinarian Naiara Milagres Augusto da Silva, an analyst at Cenargen.
Physical anchorage
The growth of muscle tissue in cultured meat requires a surface for physical anchorage that mimics the extracellular matrix of natural biological systems. These biomimetic structures can be fibrous scaffolds and spherical microcarriers that transport electrons to the attached cells.
“While fibrous scaffolds aid in cell orientation, muscle differentiation, and the three-dimensional organization of cultured tissue, spherical microcarriers promote cell expansion in suspension, increasing the area available for growth and contributing to the large-scale production of muscle tissue,” says a technical note from Embrapa to which Agência Brasil had access.
According to the note, scaffolds and microcarriers are key to developing the properties of lab-grown meat. “In addition to their biological functions, these structures directly influence the technological and sensory properties of cultured meat – including texture, firmness, water retention, and masticatory perception.”
Plant proteins
Cenargen’s Nanobiotechnology Laboratory focuses on developing biomaterials from plant proteins, which can serve as scaffolds for cultured meat cells to adhere to and multiply on.
This is the case with meshes formed by nanoscale fibers. To the naked eye, they look like a piece of paper, but under a microscope, one can observe a porous surface that functions like the extracellular matrix found in a living organism, where cells attach and bind together.
“What we’ve been trying to do is produce meat from animal cells, but using different natural supplies – edible and plant-based – so that we can rely less on the use of animals for this process,” Naiara da Silva pointed out.
Edible film
Another product from the laboratory is an edible film that serves as the casing for processed meats, like sausage, produced using the cultured meat technique.
The prototype should be completed by 2027. “By the middle of next year, it will be showcased as one of Embrapa’s technological assets,” said biologist Luciano Paulino da Silva, who coordinates the cultured meat experiments, among other initiatives, at LNANO.
Once completed, he pointed out, the experiments involving cultured meat may attract various partners specializing in the application of specific products for industrial production and trade.
Regulation
Major Brazilian agribusinesses and startups have research facilities dedicated to cultured meat. In 2023, the country’s drug authority Anvisa a regulatory framework for lab-grown meat.
Other countries, such as Singapore, the US, Israel, and Australia, are also developing cultured meat and have obtained regulatory and commercial approval.
The research conducted at LNANO was documented in a scientific article published in the journal Foods by the Swiss publisher MDPI (Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute), which specializes in open-access journals on science and technology.
Source: Agência Brasil