Lab-grown fat cells offer promise for cultivated meat

A source of fat cells from pigs has been developed in the lab, offering scientists and food manufacturers a promising tool for the large-scale production of cultivated meat without the need for genetic modification. 

The new cells are capable of efficiently producing fat tissue with remarkable consistency.

The development could address the challenge of generating realistic, sustainable animal fat, a significant hurdle in the cultivated meat industry.

The cells, known as FaTTy, are formed from early-stage stem cells which develop into fat, and can grow indefinitely in the lab without losing the ability to reliably produce fat cells. 

In contrast, most animal stem cells quickly lose this capability, making large-scale use impractical.

This discovery represents a significant step forward in a global market estimated to grow by between $5 and $30 billion by 2030. 

Ethical advantage

The outcome helps meet the need for fat as a key component in delivering the flavour and texture that consumers expect from meat. 

The Roslin team took an important step towards engineering fat for lab-grown meat at scale, which has proven difficult, especially when trying to avoid genetic modifications or animal-derived additives. 

Researchers sought to grow stem cells derived from five piglets, and discovered that cells from one of the piglets was able to reproduce hundreds of times without the need for gene editing.

Fat quality

Findings show that the fat produced closely resembled native pig fat in its composition, with slightly higher levels of healthier monounsaturated fats. 

The cell production line is being shared with academic researchers and industry to support further work in cellular agriculture and fat biology.

Tools such as this may help meat grow in labs faster, more ethically and more reliably.

This research was published in NPJ Science of Food.

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