3D Bioprinting of Cultured Meat: A Promising Avenue of Meat Production

Objective

Cultured meat is considered to be a viable alternative to conventional flesh to satisfy the increasing human demand for meat. However, current cultured meat products fail to meet consumer expectations. This paper aims to summarize existing methods of cultured meat production, especially 3D bioprinting of cultured meat, which is an emerging approach with unique advantages. By discussing the advantages and shortcomings of the existing techniques, the prospect for the future development of cultured meat is provided.

Methods

The potential ecological sustainability of cultured meat is evaluated in order to determine the necessity for its development. The advancements and limitations of cultured meat based on tissue engineering, 3D printing of meat, and 3D bioprinting of cultured meat are discussed. Future trends in 3D bioprinting of cultured meat are predicted, as well as potential challenges in this field.

Results

(1) Cultured meat is an ecologically sustainable alternative to conventional meat. (2) Cultured meat based on tissue engineering has allowed the creation of cultured muscle, adipose, and multi-component meat. The issues are that the shape of the products is unpredictable, and the process of producing large-size and multi-component cultured meat is arduous, which is not conducive to sustainable manufacturing. (3) 3D printing has been utilized in the customized processing of meat to achieve personalized demands. However, it relies on natural meat for its raw materials and cannot replace livestock production. (4) There have been preliminary attempts to use 3D bioprinting technology for cultured meat production. It combines the advantages of tissue engineering and 3D printing, which is able to create cultured beef, pork, and seafood. (5) The potential advantages of 3D bioprinting of cultured meat are higher quality and yield, enhanced cost-effectiveness, and superior ecological sustainability. (6) In the future, 3D bioprinting of cultured meat will move towards multi-component products, integrated fabrication, and cloud manufacturing. (7) The urgent issues in 3D bioprinting of cultured meat are the development of edible and printable biomaterials, the advancement of bioprinting techniques, and the life cycle assessment of manufacturing process.

Conclusion

3D bioprinting is a promising avenue to improve the quality and yield, reduce production costs, and enhance the ecological sustainability of cultured meat. It may allow people to satisfy the growing demand for meat in a sustainable manner.