From cultivated meat to plant-based proteins, engineering innovation is transforming how we produce and consume protein in a race to reduce the carbon footprint of the food industry.
Climate scientists have been warning about the impact food production has on global warming for decades, which in part has contributed to the rise in popularity of alternatives to animal protein.
As well as the more familiar tofu, tempeh and soy-based protein products, biscuits and chips made from crickets, grasshoppers and mealworms are now on offer, alongside plant-based meat substitutes, which mimic the taste and texture of beef using ingredients such as pea protein.
With food production responsible for more than a third of human-induced greenhouse gas emissions, and animal-based foods generating roughly twice the emissions of plant-based ones, the need for alternatives remains urgent.
This challenge has also driven innovation beyond plant-based options. In 2013, Dutch scientists unveiled the world’s first lab-grown burger, a breakthrough hailed not just for its taste but for its potential to revolutionise protein production. Unsurprisingly, the pioneering nature of the science came with a hefty price tag – US$375,000 – reflecting the early-stage technology and small-scale production.
Things have progressed since and today, there are more than 150 cultivated meat companies around the globe. But, while the cost of producing the products has plummeted, scaling up for mass production has remained a challenge.
One company making headlines is Sydney-based food technology company Vow, which takes a different approach to cultivated meat. Rather than replicating familiar meats such as beef or chicken, Vow explores cells from a diverse range of species – including foie gras made from Japanese quail and meatballs made from the DNA of a woolly mammoth.
Additionally, while many cultivated meat companies focus on regulatory approval for mass-market products, Vow has taken a premium-first approach, launching Forged Parfait and Forged Gras made from Japanese quail cells in high-end restaurants in Singapore – one of the few countries where cultivated meat is already approved for sale.
Ines Lizaur, Head of Engineering & Process Development at Vow said the company uses a commercial-grade food processing factory to grow meat cells in a bioreactor system, a process that takes roughly one month from start to first harvest. Compared to the cost to create that first lab-burger, Vow’s Forged range sells for $350 (SD$300) per kilo.
“Our goal is to create new products that consumers have never tasted before that are both more nutritious and more delicious than what’s on the market today,” she said.
The production process involves taking animal cells via biopsy and nurturing them in the bioreactors, which simulates the conditions in which the cells would normally grow. They are suspended in a temperature-controlled, nutrient-rich broth, which provides the environment for cells to replicate ahead of harvest.
“We have a very clear path to get the cost down, which includes scaling up in our factory. We have a 20,000-L bioreactor system that is capable of producing thousands of kilos of product a month,” Lizaur said.
“We’re in the final stage of validating that piece of equipment, but once that piece of equipment is operational, we will be capable and ready to produce at scale for future markets, including Australia.”
Meet the former aerospace engineer behind plant-based burger startup v2food.
Taking an environmental approach
Beyond inventing new products, researchers are also looking at ways to make food processing itself more sustainable.
One approach is dry fractionation, a technique that extracts plant proteins without using water, according to Dr Peter Valtchev, industrial research manager at the University of Sydney’s Centre for Advanced Food Engineering.
Traditionally, plant proteins are isolated through a wet process, where grains are milled, and proteins are solubilised at high pH before being precipitated out at a lower pH. While this method produces high concentrations of protein – typically around 80-90 per cent – it involves significant use of water and energy, Valtchev said.
“Instead of dissolving anything, we aim to separate the protein bodies from the starch granules entirely. This dry process involves milling the grain into a very controlled particle size – roughly 10 to 15 µm – and then using the density differences between starch and protein bodies to separate them.
“It’s a much greener, more efficient process because it doesn’t require any water.”
However, a significant challenge remains: the starch-rich byproduct of this process, which contains about 10-20 per cent protein, lacks clear applications.
“The yield is lower compared to traditional methods, and one of the major issues is finding good uses for the starch-rich fraction,” Valtchev said.
Currently, the byproduct can be repurposed for animal feed, but the team is exploring other potential applications.
“We’re looking into how we can further process this starch fraction into different food products, like snacks, through extrusion,” he said.
Meeting growing demand
While cultivated meat is definitely a product with potential, there are many other current innovations in science and food technology that will be essential in meeting a growing demand for protein in the next three decades, Crispin Howitt, Future Protein lead at CSIRO, told create.
“We essentially have no more agricultural land available to meet the increased demand as the population grows. Rather than replacing or competing with existing protein sources, new forms of protein production will actually complement them and help to meet that growing demand,” Howitt said.
One area CSIRO has been focusing on is optimising food production processes through AI and machine learning. A major challenge in food production is that while processes are well-established and tightly controlled, developing new products often involves a lot of trial and error, Howitt said.
“One of our goals is to use AI to streamline this process. For example, in extrusion – where ingredients are mixed, heated with pressure and shaped, like in some breakfast cereals or plant-based meats – introducing new ingredients typically requires extensive testing.”
By leveraging AI and machine learning, CSIRO aims to model these processes digitally, significantly reducing the need for physical trials.
“AI and big data can also help assess ingredient quality and determine optimal mixtures and ratios. If it currently takes 100 iterations to perfect a product, AI-driven modeling could cut that down to 10,” Howitt said.
Another area researchers are looking at is exploring whether reactor designs used in precision fermentation can be completely reimagined to improve efficiency. Current reactors used in pharmaceutical production are designed for lower-volume, high-value products, whereas food production depends on high volume and low margins, which makes efficiency crucial, Howitt said.
“Right now, we’re using traditional reactor designs, but some researchers are asking if there’s a way to rethink core elements like temperature control and mixing.”
“In large-scale reactors – holding 100,000 to 200,000 L – stirring alone is extremely energy-intensive, so the challenge is how to make these systems more efficient while maintaining product quality.”
Another major challenge for both cultivated meat and precision fermentation remains the cost of building production facilities, Howitt said.
“Securing capital for these facilities is especially difficult right now, as the industries are still in their early stages. Many companies rely on venture capital, but the reality is that many venture capitalists are hesitant to invest in infrastructure.
“The real challenge is figuring out how to scale. We’ve seen significant advancements in complementary protein areas, but the question is: how do we create the right investment structures to help companies scale and prove their long-term viability?”
