Lab News: The Cruelty-Free Bratwurst
Research into animal-friendly protein alternatives to traditional livestock farming has made rapid advances, filling shelves with countless products made from plant-based substitutes. However, these often fall short in taste and texture compared to their meat-based counterparts, lacking the characteristics typically associated with meat: flavor, smell, and structure.
CellTec Systems, a pioneer in industrial cell proliferation, offers an alternative with its uniquely developed hybrid rabbit bratwurst based on cultured cells. This creates a new animal-friendly alternative to conventional meat, deliberately choosing this cell source to set new trends and offer consumers alternative products.
Hybrid Rabbit Bratwurst from the CellTec Food Lab
Those wishing to develop product innovations in this dynamic area cannot, contrary to the usual procedure in food development, rely on existing standard procedural steps. For this reason, besides a flexible response to this high dynamism, special creativity is regularly required.
Bioreactor development for producing cultured meat is advancing rapidly, and there have been significant reductions in production costs. Unlike traditional production methods, such as conventional fermentation, only a combination of deep cellular biology knowledge, suitable proliferation methods, and specially adapted reactors can yield the desired results.
In the CellTec Food Lab, hybrid food products based on Cultivated Meat are developed. The starting point is cells obtained from byproducts (e.g., ear tag punch-outs or slaughterhouse remnants). These cells are cultured in a calf serum-free nutrient medium in a standardized process, allowing them to be subsequently incorporated into our own cell bank.
From there, they can be extracted as needed so that the required quantities of cells can grow in the reactor process, which are then processed into products with other ingredients after harvest. The cells retain their original nutritional values, such as those found in corresponding muscle meat. Additionally, other properties like smell and taste are incorporated into the product through the cells used. From a single cell, several tons of cell-based meat can be produced.
Current legislation, unlike in places like Singapore, does not yet allow the consumption (marketing according to the so-called Novel Food Regulation) of these new products, so tasting is currently only possible through scent or by substituting the meat component. However, it is expected that this situation will change in the near future, as the first applications are already being processed.
“In addition to plant-based products in the sausage sector, which often fail to convince, this creates another market alternative that can deliver essential animal ingredients and also be produced in an animal-friendly manner,” summarizes Elisa Kruse, Head of Product Engineering at CellTec.
“I am curious to see when products made from Cultivated Meat will be available on store shelves in Germany. There will certainly be buyers who do not want to give up meat characteristics but reject intensive livestock farming as a production method. Cultivated Meat products will not displace traditional foods but will stand alongside current meat products as well as plant and cell substitute products in the future. This can relieve the burden on agriculture and meet the growing diversity of consumer desires.”
We are happy to provide you with further detailed information about our processes and skills. Please send your inquiries and specifications by email to sales@celltec-systems.com, and we will respond promptly.