Replacing Fetal Bovine Serum: Omeat unveils “humane” alternative to unlock price parity for cultivated meat

Cultured meat start-up Omeat has launched Plenty, a nutrient-rich cell culture supplement that acts as an ethical replacement for fetal bovine serum (FBS). The innovative product, launched out of stealth, can be used by companies focused on cultivated meat, regenerative medicine, vaccine production, or employing cell-culture technology in their processes.

Plenty was developed by a group of Harvard-MIT-trained scientists who were driven by finding an eco-friendly and slaughter-free method to formulate an FBS alternative.

Ali Khademhosseini, Ph.D., founder and CEO at Omeat and world-renowned tissue engineer, is at the helm.

“We see ourselves as a meat company and our goal is to be a bridge to the future of the meat industry. We’re perfecting a sustainable operation that existing farms and ranches can implement, generating the same volume of product but with a fraction of the overhead,” he underscores.

“It’s way more efficient and we don’t have to sacrifice the cow.”

The media can be used to “cost-effectively grow any kind of meat,” such as beef, pork, chicken or fish.

A worthy replacement

The company flags the reason behind creating Plenty as an alternative media for lab meat.

“Synthetic serum substitutes, defined media and serum-free media have been developed before as alternatives, but they’ve come with limitations that have hindered their viability as a replacement to FBS. That’s why we developed Plenty: an affordable, effective and slaughter-free cell culture supplement product,” shares Khademhosseini.

The other FBS alternatives on the market “fall short” of efficacy and consistency compared to Plenty.

He described the start-up’s observation of how the implementation of Plenty “significantly helped our product, ethos and overall ecosystem.”

“We’re looking forward to scaling and helping other companies that are changing the world, allowing them to achieve their goals with a product they can feel good about using.”

The process of making the cultured meat uses regenerative factors extracted humanely from healthy, living cows to derive growth media, the “number one cost driver” of cultivated meat.

Notably, the media can be used to “cost-effectively grow any kind of meat,” such as beef, pork, chicken or fish.

Having already completed its first commercial sales, Plenty is a “nutrient-rich cell culture supplement” filled with growth factors and cytokines that play an essential role in regenerative medicine, cell culture and vaccine production of different types of cells such as mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) solution.

The process of making the cultured meat uses regenerative factors extracted humanely from healthy, living cows to derive growth media.

The food innovator chose beef since it “aligns with Omeat’s vision for positive impact and near-term consumer accessibility.” Moreover, it is the segment with the most extensive global land and water footprint with the potential to lay heavily on the environment and climate.

Its latest offering is on sale and will be promoted across many industries where FBS has until now been the primary option, despite its “imperfections.”

With regulators increasingly approving the sales of such products, the company’s latest move comes at an opportune time.

A “goal standard” with a dilemma

For a long time, FBS has been instrumental in formulating cell-cultured meat. However, using it has raised ethical concerns owing to its harvest from bovine fetuses taken from pregnant cows during their mutual slaughter.

Khademhosseini states: “When it comes to growth media supplementation, FBS is considered the gold standard. However, FBS has downsides, including high costs, limited and unpredictable supply and ethical concerns about the FBS harvesting process.”

These ethical and cost concerns have prompted companies, including those in the cultivated meat industry, to look for replacements. For them, Plenty presents an option that is “humane, affordable, scalable” and highly effective for cell culture.

With regulators increasingly approving the sales of such products, the company’s latest move comes at an opportune time for the cultivated meat industry.

Last year, FoodIngredientsFirst spoke to Bright Biotech about scaling cell-based meat and replacing FBS through animal-component free cell growth feed.

Despite the concerns, more and more countries are welcoming the idea of cultivated meat, with the Netherlands recently allowing tastings of cultivated meat, fish and seafood samples.

Other lab meat formulators are also decoupling cell-cultured meat from its reliance on fetal bovine serum for “truly slaughter-free products.”

Omeat sources growth media from its herd of cows that "graze freely" on its farm in California.

Focusing on animal care

The condition of animals raised for dairy and meat on farms is an important aspect that companies need to focus on. Last year, FoodIngredientsFirst reported a study highlighting dairy farms’ sorry state of affairs.

Omeat claims that Plenty is the “first and only” product to offer a cost-effective, consistent solution and is slaughter-free while prioritizing animal welfare.

It sources growth media from its herd of cows that "graze freely" on its farm in California, which is designed to be “carbon negative.” Furthermore, the company employs various regenerative practices for soil health, such as no tilling, planting cover crops, rotational grazing and natural fertilization by Omeat’s free-roaming herd.

The lab meat innovator has appointed “full-time” veterinary and animal-welfare staff to ensure the holistic well-being and comfort of the animals on the farm.

Moreover, its collection procedures rely on “positive reinforcement” and occur weekly in a manner similar to human plasma donation.

Because plasma regenerates quickly, it “does not deplete the animal.”

In the past, activists have fought for animal welfare rights against FMCG giants, owing to the seriousness of the issue.

Meanwhile, other cell-cultured meat start-ups continue to make strides in the F&B market with continuous innovations and prototype launches.