Quest’s Cultivated Meat Tasting Shows Promising Results for Microcarrier Replacements – vegconomist
Quest Meat, a UK-based B2B company specializing in high-quality cell lines and ingredients for the cell-based industry, has developed edible and food-safe microcarrier replacements — the most promising method for scaling up the production of cultivated meat, according to the company.
“I’m really excited by the potential of our material for the cultivated meat space”
Recently, the team at Quest Meat conducted a microcarrier cooking test and tasting to see how its material behaved in a cultivated meat product made only with cells, microcarriers, and rapeseed oil, without other ingredients or binders.
“The tasting showed us that not only is our microcarrier replacement material scalable and sustainable, but it can also provide beneficial meat-like, visual and sensorial attributes to the final food product. I’m really excited by the potential of our material for the cultivated meat space,” Dr Ella Hodder, Project Manager at Quest Meat, commented.
The product’s tasting notes included descriptions such as “browned nicely,” “crispy on the outside,” “umami flavor,” and “smells like meat.” You can watch the video here.
Food grade microcarriers
Quest Meat aims to provide an alternative to the existing expensive and non-edible pharmaceutical-grade microcarriers unsuited for high food production volumes. Designed explicitly for cultivated meat, the company’s “microscale material beads” provide large surface areas for cells to attach easily and grow quickly, leading to more efficient and successful meat cultivation.
The biotech says it has successfully assessed its capabilities in upscale systems (seed train and 500ml bioreactors), using various cell types (muscle and fat) from different species. The results show they support bead-to-bead transfer well, allowing for higher-density culture.
The beads are 100% animal-free and completely edible while also contributing to the taste and sensory attributes of the final product. In addition, according to the biotech, its production is scalable and sustainable. Besides the microcarrier replacements, the company’s products include bovine muscle-derived and adipose-derived stem cells and a food-safe culture media supplement to replace fetal bovine serum.
A global challenge
Founded in 2021 by Ivan Wall (CEO), Petra Hanga (CSO), Michel Hunt, and John Sinden, Quest Meat has secured over £700,000 from various investors.
Innovate UK recently awarded funding through the UKRI Technology Missions Fund, Engineering Biology CR&D competition to support Quest Meat’s next-generation cell lines.
Other collaborations include a co-development partnership with the UK biotech Multus to establish a cell culture ingredients platform and an R&D partnership with the University of Birmingham, backed by a £520,000 UKRI investment to revolutionise cultivated meat production with cost-effective ingredients.
“Cultivated meat is a global challenge, and delivering it requires collaboration and partnership to address the technical and cost barriers,” states Quest Meat.
