Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by Nathanael_M 1557 days ago
Wow, I have so many questions. First, I really respect people acting on conviction. Anyway, I have lots of questions (all completely uninformed) so feel free to ignore any of them, haha.

1) Where are you in the development process? Have your scaffolds been used to successfully grow a piece of edible meat?

2) When do you think the value of cultivated meat will grow to a point to make the industry self-sustaining? Or even just for it to become a viable option for restaurants/consumers?

3) How is flavour added in the process? Since diet has so much impact on flavour, how can you experiment with flavour while growing it in lab? I understand this is specific to another step in the process, so if you can't answer, no worries.

4) When you say scaffolding, my mind immediately goes to a very visual/physically defined place. I'm picturing like a Ribeye Exoskeleton. What level of control over the sculpting of the end product do you have, or does the scaffolding function on a very general growth support level that results in the development of an end product that is then sculpted by the meat-maker?

5) Anne-Sophie, have you tried any lab grown meat?

6) How far away are we from seeing "at-home" kits for meat growing? I'm picturing a world where a restaurant has their meat-printer going all the time, experimenting with different flavours and textures for the next menu!

7) Does this have any non-edible use cases? Can this process be applied to growing functional muscle/tissue, not just edible muscle/tissue?

Thanks! Again, feel free to pick and choose.

1 comments

1) We have already created our first piece of edible pork using our method!

2) ATKearney in their article "How will cultured meat and meat alternatives disrupt the agricultural and food industry?" estimates that about 10% of global meat consumption could be switched over to cultivated meat around 2030. While 10% is low, I think you'll start seeing restaurant experiences start cropping up more and more over the next 3-7 years.

3) For cultivated meat, one method of adding flavor is by cultivating fat cells and merging it with the muscle cells after maturing.

4) With our method, the final shape of the meat can actually get very unique. There really are no limitations on the shape/ layout of the meat, and the final shaping is done after maturing the cells. If you want to have chicken meat in the shape of a ribeye, you will definitely be able to with our technology.

5) We have not tasted it yet, but we will very soon!

6) We are probably closer than you might imagine. Our technology enables production at any scale, from a full industrial plant to a small "home brewing" set-up. Really, it just comes down to getting the medium and growth factors to be cheaper for the average consumer.

7) Generally yes, with some minor and not so minor adaptations.

> 5) We have not tasted it yet, but we will very soon!

You need double blind taste tests. It doesn't matter if cultured meat is good for the planet, if Joe Sixpack won't eat cultured meat because it tastes bad or has weird non-meat properties and textures, then your product will get no traction

Impossible is already pretty good on “ground beef as an ingredient in something”. It’s comically out of the range where it will succeed economically, but it’s also early; if they can get the price down to compete with utility ground beef, I think it would already do phenomenally well in the market on a taste and feel dimension.

It’s not going to knock off any boutique burger and obviously not even a round steak, but I think that cultured meat is at least even-money to take a 30% market share of “beef” in the next 30 years.

Beyond and Impossible is doing well. Like solar, replacement would be harder sale. Focus on uniqueness, specific use cases probably better.
This has been my experience. I'm pretty happy with more processed lab meat. Burgers, chicken nuggets, etc.

If the texture/experience of chicken breast or a filet mignon can be perfected though, then we're talking about mass adoption on a global scale.

I do wonder if this means a potential end to cooking methods like BBQ. The skeleton of the animal plays a huge role in that cooking environment, I wonder if we can replicate it as well?

Looking forward to the future!

Joe Sixpack. Gonna use this one
It's a term that was made popular by Sarah Palin during the 2008 vice presidential debates to describe a regular average Joe who always arrives with a six pack of beer in one hand when he shows up to visit.
Oh god.
> Good Food Institute is estimating that about 10% of global meat consumption could be switched over to cultivated meat around 2030. While 10% is low

10% in the next 8 years seems very impressive to me. Do you have a link to the report? I searched but their State of the Industry report has a question mark instead of a date

https://gfi.org/resource/cultivated-meat-eggs-and-dairy-stat...

Good catch! This should have said ATKearney, and has been updated. You can find the report here: https://gastronomiaycia.republica.com/wp-content/uploads/201...
Thank you.
10% of the global meat market is around 30 million metric tons per year. What are we currently at?
Currently the only places in the world where the general public can taste cultivated meat products are one restaurant in Singapore and one restaurant in Israel. So very little amounts at this point :)
I haven't had the chance to taste the meat of other companies sadly, but we plan on be ready for tasting of our product in the next months!
Let me know if you need any beta testers ;)
Beta tasters*
This is all very exciting. I am looking forward to a well marbled chicken steak in the future.

Thanks for taking the time to answer.