#13 – The ABC of cell-based meat w/ TurtleTree's Chief of Staff Kara Leong

Greenhero

Joining Rikard today on the Greenhero Podcast is CEO of cell-based food company, TurtleTree, Kara Leong. She’s here to break down the complex topic of cell-based food, something not plant-based, but not animal-based either. Lab grown food will certainly be part of our future, but how can we get comfortable eating it? With her extensive scientific background, Kara will try to make these complex topics simple.

Cell-based food, or cellular agriculture, is another way of producing food outside the traditional methods of raising crops or keeping land and raising livestock. Cell-based food is taking a sample of cells from an animal, whether that's fish, chicken, pig, or cow, and growing them in a temperature bioreactor. Once a large amount of cells has grown, they can be harvested and turned into a food product without the animal’s involvement.

At the crux of cell-based food is understanding the cell-line and making sure the animal the food is being developed from lives a long, happy, and healthy life. It can take a decade to characterize the line and understand how they work, what they do, and what they're capable of. This isn’t a new science, as CHO (Chinese Hamster Ovary) cells have been well studied and haven’t been near an animal for quite some time.

We’re at the point now where the science is there, but to commodify and sell a food product is an entirely different set of challenges. It still has to be commercialized and to appeal to people and still needs to taste great.

While the ultimate goal is to have a completely cell-based structured product, the more feasible path is a hybrid product of cell-based and plant-based products. Filamentous fungus (think mushrooms) are a good candidate for a hybrid product, as they’re easy and fast growing and already possess an umami profile. By including just 10% cell-based food to the product, you can really replicate the meat-eating experience.

To get to that goal, it’ll take development of equipment, lowering cost, and other aspects like FDA approval. “Flat” products like bacon are the next possible products, but eventually the goal will be products with differentiated structures like bone and fat.

The dairy space is also one that is being explored by Kara and her team. As it stands, companies can produce casein and whey, two primary proteins found in milk. However, lactation biology is a very complex science, as milk is vast amounts of molecules interacting with each other.

At TurtleTree, they’re working to produce high-value bioactive dairy protein that's found in both human milk and bovine milk–bovine lactoferrin. It’s found in early breast milk, providing dense nutrients and immunity to nursing infants. But, in typical milk, it’s .1% of the product, meaning you’ll have to drink a massive amount of milk to get the protein. It’s VERY difficult and expensive to extract the protein and typically used in premium formula, but only for a small percentage of those brands. TurtleTree is aiming to make this high-value protein available and feasible to use in all infant formula.

Things you’ll learn

Cell-based food, or cellular agriculture, is another way of producing food outside the traditional methods of raising crops or keeping land and raising livestock.

While the ultimate goal is to have a completely cell-based structured product, the more feasible path is a hybrid product of cell-based and plant-based products.

TurtleTree is working to produce high-value bioactive dairy protein that's found in both human milk and bovine milk with the ultimate goal of making the protein more widely available in infant formulas.

LINKS

https://turtletree.com/

@TurtleTree

Kara Leong on LinkedIn