Cultured meat turbocharges with immortal stem cells

Cultured meat production is turbochargeable, with the possibility of cultivating immortal bovine muscle stem cells. The technique described in the journal ACS Synthetic Biology and which makes stem cells able to reproduce hundreds of times was developed in the Center for Cellular Agriculture of the American Tuft University and can also be applied to muscle stem cells of chickens and fish. An important step to produce tons of meat grown every year.

"The new technique - commented to ANSA the president of the Ethics Committee of the Umberto Veronesi Foundation, Carlo Alberto Redi - is an important progress but the real limit to the spread of meat grown by cellular agriculture, which should be emphasized has nothing synthetic, it is not technological but cultural". Although now almost mature, cell farming techniques still have some limitations, one of them is that during replication the cells tend to age and no longer guarantee the same characteristics as the initial cells. The American research team has now developed a technique to use so-called immortalized bovine muscle stem cells (iBSCs) in meat production, cells that can grow rapidly and divide hundreds of times, potentially indefinitely without showing signs of aging. Once multiplied, iBSCs are pushed to differentiate into mature muscle cells, which are then the final product.

Cultured meat is not dangerous, it is an innovation that overcomes some of the current practical limitations and can make an important contribution to reducing costs, facilitating large-scale production and cultivating cells of other animals, such as chicken and fish, notes Redi.

"Health fears - added Redi - are invented, these foods will always be controlled accurately in the same way as with all the foods that then arrive on the market". It is estimated that between 18 and 20% of greenhouse gases are due to emissions from the billions of animals we raise intensively, to which must be added the use of medicines and the destruction of forests to make room for pastures.

"Not to mention the ethical issues related to slaughter. Meat cultivation is an inevitable necessity for the preservation of the planet," Redi added. To still limit the spread of this type of food is the social acceptance and opposition of the actors of the traditional production chain "but we must start from an indisputable premise, there is a problem of sustainability to be solved and not postponed. You cannot say no - concluded Redi - stating that it would hurt, because this is false. We must do something and false or nonsensical statements cannot be made, it is necessary to explain the reason for the political choices. We need a serious discussion."