Innocent Meat has succeeded in realising EUR 3 million in financing in a challenging market environment. The investors include the anchor investor Venture Capital Fonds MV, which invested EUR 500 thousand, and a new private investor, which invested EUR 2.5 million. The fresh capital will enable the company to further develop the existing biocomponents, scale up the pilot plant and initiate the necessary certification processes.
Innocent Meat is striving for a complete solution for cultured meat production with an automated, end-to-end system. The young technology company from Rostock is one of the first to make it possible for any company to produce cultured meat itself. The aim of the cultured meat industry is to achieve price parity compared to conventional meat products.
Founded in 2020, the start-up has built up a highly qualified team of 9 employees at its Rostock site, has several patents pending and has left the laboratory scale with its perfusion bioprocess.
In addition, two funding projects with a total volume of more than EUR 1 million have already been acquired. Together with the University of Rostock, a production platform for recombinant proteins (FABA.BIO) is being set up and the first products are available.
]]>Cell differentiation, a fundamental biological process, enables undifferentiated cells to transform into specific cell types, which is crucial for mimicking the complex structure of meat. Differentiation media is therefore instrumental in replicating this process in cultivated meat production, allowing us to create muscle and fat cells that constitute meat. We'll delve into the results of our newly developed differentiation media and the potential advancements in its development as we strive to revolutionise the food industry with sustainable, ethical alternatives to traditional meat.
Our key advantages of the (trans-) differentiation media are the following:
As you can see below, our proliferated myo-satellite cells are able to differentiate into mature adipose tissue by adding our differentiation media after 10 days.
Any questions? You want to test it? Reach out to us hello@innocent-meat.com and we put you on the waiting list.
]]>We are thrilled to introduce our novel expansion medium to the cultivated meat industry and research institutions. This innovation marks a significant milestone in our journey toward producing delectable meat without the need for large-scale breeding and slaughter. Our approach involves the cultivation of stem cells within closed systems akin to brewery tanks. These cells are nurtured to reach the necessary biomass, and we've perfected the art of instructing them to transform into authentic muscle and fat tissue. This breakthrough overcomes the historical challenges of differentiating precursor cells for pork muscle and fat.
]]>Scaffolds play a crucial role in the development of cultured meat, which is an innovative technology aimed at producing meat products without the need for traditional animal agriculture.
Scaffolds are three-dimensional structures or frameworks that provide support for cell growth and enable the formation of complex tissue structures. In the context of cultured meat, scaffolds act as a framework for the cultured cells to attach, grow, and differentiate, mimicking the natural process of muscle formation in animals.
Innocent Meat is using edible scaffolds to grow its adult stem cells and eventually differentiate them into fat and muscle tissue. These scaffolds support the cells within the process to reach high cell densities that are needed for cultivated meat products.
The 0.2 mm big macroporous microcarriers (left) show a porosity of over 90 % and allow the cells to grow into that void volume resulting in small, edible tissue spheres. During expansion, cells grow on the surface and into the pores to increase the available biomass. This process can be followed by staining of these cells with blue dye (DAPI - right).
Scaffolds can be designed to mimic the extracellular matrix (ECM), which is a network of proteins and other molecules present in living tissues. The ECM provides structural support, regulates cell behavior, and facilitates nutrient and waste exchange. By mimicking the ECM, scaffolds enhance cell adhesion, proliferation, and tissue organization, resulting in the formation of meat-like structures.
DAPI/alpha tubulin staining of the scaffolds with muscle stem cells after 24h (Seeding: 750.000/ml) that are going in formation and covering the surface area (10x and 20x, respectively)
The use of scaffolds in cultured meat production offers several advantages. Firstly, scaffolds provide mechanical support, enabling the growth of larger and more complex muscle tissues. They also facilitate nutrient distribution, waste removal, and oxygenation, essential for cell survival and tissue development. Moreover, scaffolds can guide the alignment of muscle fibers, resulting in improved texture and tenderness of the final product.
With our proprietary scaffold production system, we have found a cost-effective solution for producing the necessary component for large scale application in cultured meat development. This fully edible product can be used for a high output of cells in order to meet the necessary demand of cultured meat.
]]>It has previously been notoriously difficult to differentiate precursor cells for pork fat and muscle. Innocent Meat is on the road to develop delicous meat without a need for mass breeding and slaughtering. Stem Cells are growing inside of closed systems comparable to brewery tanks. After they were grown to the needed biomass, we teach the cells to become real muscle and fat tissue.
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Plant molecular farming (PMF) is an application of biotechnology that traditionally involves using genetically modified plants to produce useful products pharmaceutical products such as enzymes, and vaccines. Molecular farming was first demonstrated more than 30 years ago when scientists produced a recombinant antibody and human serum albumin in transgenic plants.
]]>What if we could grow a gram of pure animal protein inside a plant? Molecular farming proposes to do just that.
Plant molecular farming (PMF) is an application of biotechnology that traditionally involves using genetically modified plants to produce useful products pharmaceutical products such as enzymes, and vaccines. Molecular farming was first demonstrated more than 30 years ago when scientists produced a recombinant antibody and human serum albumin in transgenic plants.
Genetically modified plants are used as plant biofactories to produce animal proteins or bioreagents, which can then be harvested and purified for use.
Plant Molecular Farming experiences its renaissance in the pursuit of sustainable protein production for food purpose. But what sets it apart from other alternative protein production methods? PMF bases on the idea of genetically engineered plants to produce animal protein they wouldn’t naturally create. The key difference fermentation and PMF lies in the environment in which the organisms grow to synthesize the target molecules: precision fermentation uses bioreactors, while PMF utilizes plants, and can be grown like any other crop.
PMF is powerful technology that can be used to produce animal-free proteins, but that isn’t all it can do. This technology can be used to produce a wide variety of proteins and ingredients sustainably.
PMF is gaining popularity due to its cost-effectiveness, scalability, and flexible output. PMF could change the food industry – opportunities and challenges
PMF has enormous potential to positively impact the food industry. Not only the alternative protein market but the traditional dairy industry as well. That said, Molecular farming also faces some challenges. Here is a recap of both sides:
Cell-based meat production requires specific animal proteins, among them cellular growth factors that are required for the growth, maintenance, and differentiation of the cells that will become that delicious steak. Currently, those growth factors are derived from animals, which defeats the purpose of growing cell-based meat. Growth factors are also expensive. As a result, the manufacture of growth factors limits the growth of the cell-based meat industry.
Plants can serve as expression platforms like microorganisms used as recombinant protein hosts. This may require minimal processing into value-added ingredients, such as egg and dairy functional proteins. Plants offer scalability with less need for expensive downstream purification to isolate proteins of interest from inedible or undesirable hosts.
Molecular farming development has historically focused on developing pharmaceutical therapeutic end products (e.g., antibodies, antigens, enzymes). Now we transfer this technology to produce alternative animal proteins. Because of the possibility of open field production, molecular farming could create proteins at a much larger scale and with substantially lower infrastructure costs and constraints than microbial precision fermentation. Furthermore, adding valuable ingredients to crops that have uses in alternative protein or other industries can promote zero-waste economies through whole crop valorisation.
Bioplant platform FABA.BIO for large scale recombinant animal protein production
Innocent Meat uses plants rather than microbes because plants require less expensive equipment to grow and harvest, are easier to maintain, and are more scalable. Molecular farming is unlikely to experience the severe infrastructure and manufacturing capacity constraints currently facing the microbial fermentation sector to produce recombinant proteins and growth factors for cultured meat or alternative protein.
Innocent Meat develops a scalable platform that can massively increase production yields of recombinant proteins and massively increase extraction efficiencies.
Our power plant to produce scalable recombinant animal proteins are fabaceaes
Fabaceaes has a wide range of excellent agronomic traits:
We’re currently using our molecular farming technology to produce growth factors to pathway industrial cultured meat production.
]]>The range of meat products on the market exists on a spectrum of structural sophistication. On one end of the spectrum, there are less sophisticated processed products such as surimi and hot dogs; in the middle, minced products such as burgers and sausages; and on the other end, filets, and steaks. To replicate the more sophisticated products, Innocent Meat and its highly decorated partner the department of microfluidics of the university of Rostock are developing technologies biomaterials science to recreate the complex multicellular architecture of meat. Together with the university we aim to develop a scalable and cost-effective electrospinning method to produce sophisticated scaffolds that enhance cell proliferation and differentiation, and mouth feeling. To get that innovation on track, Innocent Meat, and the University of Rostock receives a federal grant with a total funding volume of half million euros.
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