Marbled Cultivated Meat by TissenBioFarm Wins AgTech Breakthrough Award – vegconomist

South Korea’s TissenBioFarm announces it has won the “Cultured Meat Product of the Year” in the 2024 AgTech Breakthrough Awards.
The cultivated meat startup says that the award recognizes the impact of its low-cost, scalable technologies for producing cultivated meat. AgTech Breakthrough is a market intelligence organization that acknowledges top companies, technologies, and products in agricultural and food technology.
“TissenBioFarm is creating a future where people, the environment, and animals are safe”  
Bryan Vaughn, Managing Director of AgTech Breakthrough, shared, “TissenBioFarm is creating a future where people, the environment, and animals are safe. This era of agriculture and food technology marks the next major period of sustainable future foods, but the low scalability and high costs of producing cultivated meat have caused a gap in the industry. The solution lies within sustainable and scalable technologies used for production.”
© TissenBioFarm
The pattern of muscle and fat
TissenBioFarm explains it has developed a platform to produce whole-cut marbled steaks using a novel biofabrication system that allows “ultrafast” production of muscles and fat in fiber form. According to the startup, compared to conventional 3D bioprinting, its system is up to 35,000 times faster, allowing it to make 300 kg of fibers per hour.
Additionally, the startup uses optogenetics technology to induce cell proliferation and differentiation with light, eliminating the use of fetal bovine serum and other expensive proteins, thereby cutting production costs.
“We aim to produce products that are competitive in every way with conventional prime cuts”
To make products with a realistic appearance, the cell ag startup uses biomimicry techniques to mimic the structure of the muscle tissue of real meat using different patterns. The startup explains that marbling is essential in beef grading as it enhances its flavor and texture. Another advantage of the technology is that the marbling patterns and nutritional profiles can vary to meet consumer and industry preferences for healthier or targeted products.
One test unveiled last year successfully produced a 10 kg cultivated meat prototype, and the technology allows them to create various cuts of meat, from sirloin to tenderloin or ribeye.
Wonil Han, CEO of TissenBioFarm, shares, “Today’s alternative meat technologies are limited to making ground meat products such as patties and nuggets. We aim to produce products that are competitive in every way with conventional prime cuts of steak and offer solutions that have overcome technical limitations such as mass production.”
Image courtesy of TissenBioFarm
Getting closer to mass production
TissenBioFarm, founded in Pohang, South Korea in 2021, focuses on producing high-quality and nutritious cultivated meat that mirrors the sensory experience of conventional meat. Its goal is to achieve mass production at a reasonable cost.
The company is part of the recently launched Bio Future Food Industry Association, which aims to support and develop the country’s cultivated meat sector. It is also working with nine other companies in the special regulatory-free zone designated by the South Korean government to demonstrate the commercialization of cultivated meat.
In September 2022, TissenBioFarm raised 2.2 billion won ($1.6 million) in a pre-Series A funding round and has garnered multiple recognitions. By 2027, TissenBioFarm aims to develop its technology further to reduce the production cost of cultivated meat to about $10 per kilogram.
Han continued, “Thank you to AgTech Breakthrough for recognizing our efforts as we get close to commercial scale and get our system ready for mass production. We’ll continue to enhance the world’s first technology to mass-produce whole-cut cultivated meat with realistic marbling.”

Source link