A New Edible Film to Produce In Vitro Meat

Abstract

In vitro meat is a novel concept of food science and biotechnology. Methods to produce in vitro meat employ muscle cells cultivated on a scaffold in a serum-free medium using a bioreactor. The microstructure of the scaffold is a key factor, because muscle cells must be oriented to generate parallel alignments of fibers. This work aimed to develop a new scaffold (microstructured film) to grow muscle fibers. The microstructured edible films were made using micromolding technology. A micromold was tailor-made using a laser cutting machine to obtain parallel fibers with a diameter in the range of 70–90 µm. Edible films were made by means of solvent casting using non-mammalian biopolymers. Myoblasts were cultured on flat and microstructured films at three cell densities. Cells on the microstructured films grew with a muscle fiber morphology, but in the case of using the flat film, they only produced unorganized cell proliferation. Myogenic markers were assessed using quantitative polymerase chain reaction. After 14 days, the expression of desmin, myogenin, and myosin heavy chain were significantly higher in microstructured films compared to the flat films. The formation of fiber morphology and the high expression of myogenic markers indicated that a microstructured edible film can be used for the production of in vitro meat.

Rheological and Structural Study of Salmon Gelatin with Controlled Molecular Weight

“…Depending on the application where the SG could be used, its properties can be advantageous allowing the development of different strategies to design salmon gelatin-based biomaterials with tailored and engineered functional and technological properties. Indeed, low viscosity gelatins have been successfully used in applications that require small-scale constructs with well-defined geometries and tuned structures such as electrospinning [ 15 ], microfluidics, and micropatterning [ 16 , 17 ]. Other applications include sprayable food edible coatings [ 4 ], polymeric scaffolds, and more recently, bio-inks for 3D printing for tissue engineering applications [ 1 , 18 , 19 ].…”

The Epic of In Vitro Meat Production—A Fiction into Reality

“…The baseline idea for the proposals relied on the utilization of collagen spheres for adherence and collagen meshwork with periodical replacement of the medium for the culture of myoblasts. Recently, microstructure edible films were used to grow muscle fibers [ 28 ]. As of today, science is trending with novel branches of biotechnology such as biomaterials, cellular engineering, and cellular agriculture to address issues related to environmental, animal, and human welfare.…”

In-vitro meat: a promising solution for sustainability of meat sector

“…A gelatin based fibrous scaffold by using rotatory jet spinning technology for cell culturing of bovine and rabbit originated cells has been developed [ 93 ]. Micromolding of thin hydrogel films has also been also used to produce scaffold with groove texture [ 94 ]. Plant materials such as textured soy protein have been utilized to prepare plant-based scaffold due to their porous structure, which promotes proliferation of bovine myotubules [ 85 ].…”