For decades, the idea of ​​”cultured meat” dominated the human imagination, and since then scientists have been working in their laboratories to obtain cultured meat that is fit for human consumption, and that can compete with meat taken from livestock.

After important milestones experienced by the emerging industry, these days I stopped at a new study that would contribute to the expansion of the production of farmed meat, to become closer than ever to our mouths.

The study, which was recently published in the “Development” journal, offers an innovative solution that helps produce cultured meat without the need for the methods used in previous experiments, when meat was made by taking a sample from the animal first, and then technicians collect stem cells from tissues that they multiply continuously and repeatedly. They allow it to transform into primitive fibers that then assemble to form muscle tissue.

In the new study, researchers from the University of Nottingham’s School of Biological Sciences, along with colleagues at the Universities of Cambridge, Exeter, Tokyo and Meiji Universities, developed stem cell lines from pig, sheep and cattle embryos grown without the need for serum, nutrients or antibiotics.

Sky News Arabia contacted Professor Ramiro Alberio, the study leader, who in turn says that they have created a culture of stem cells that enables them to grow unlimited in the laboratory. “This will simplify the production of specific cells such as muscle and fat on a large scale for the production of cultured meat,” Alberio added. “We identified the main culture media components that stem cells need to maintain permanent growth, and we were able to obtain them from artificial sources.”

“The new meat culture system is completely chemically determined, and this allows the manufacture of products suitable for human consumption, unlike previous methods that showed a difference in the quality of production.”

The expert in developmental biology at the University of Nottingham stresses that this new system provides a robust and reproducible technique for growing cells in specific conditions.

At the conclusion of his speech to Sky News Arabia, Professor Ramiro Alberio answers a question about when the new technology will be adopted in the industry. By saying this new system has already been licensed to many companies producing farmed meat.

Those interested in this industry expect that it will contribute in the future to reducing the large costs required for raising livestock, especially with the increase in meat consumption in the world. Global meat consumption rose fivefold, from 45 million tons of meat consumed daily in 1950 to about 300 million tons by the end of the 2000s, according to Slow Food.