BeneMeat Publishes Study on Cultivated Meat Safety Risks
The article is titled “Shaping the Future Plate: Exploring the Safety Concerns of Cultivated and Conventional Meat Production.” Its authors are BeneMeat Technologies researchers Petra Neveceralova, Hana Raschmanova and Peter Gorilak, as well as Jan Cerny from the Faculty of Science at Charles University in Prague.
The authors compared the potential risks and benefits of cultivated and conventional meat. The review examines the microbiological safety of production, cell-line stability, cell immortalization methods, genetic modifications, the composition of culture media, the potential presence of allergens and the nutritional value of the final product.
According to the researchers, producing meat in a controlled environment could reduce risks associated with zoonotic diseases and the spread of antimicrobial resistance. However, cell cultivation does not eliminate biological hazards and requires strict sterility controls.
Potential sources of contamination include tissue samples obtained from donor animals, components of culture media and failures to comply with production procedures. The paper pays particular attention to mycoplasma, viral agents and prions, as well as the need for regular testing of cell cultures.
The authors note that using fetal bovine serum raises ethical and safety concerns. One direction for the industry’s development is the transition to synthetic, serum-free media containing plant- or microbe-derived components. However, these ingredients and the scaffolds used to grow cells must also be assessed for allergenicity.
The study separately examines concerns associated with immortalized cell lines. According to the authors, immortalization should not automatically be equated with the malignant transformation of cells. Once harvested, the cell biomass must be inactivated, while subsequent heat treatment and digestion break the cells down into proteins, lipids and nucleic acids. At the same time, the researchers emphasize the need for transparent disclosure of cell-line modification methods and studies of their potential tumorigenicity.
Residual components of culture media, including growth factors and signalling proteins, are another subject of assessment. Their presence in finished products must be examined as part of pre-market authorization procedures. The authors also point to the need to compare the amino acid composition, fatty acids, vitamins and minerals of cultivated meat with those of conventional products.
The review does not provide an unconditional conclusion that the technology is completely safe. The researchers note that bringing cultivated meat to market requires a comprehensive risk assessment, continuous analytical monitoring and regulatory requirements that take the specific characteristics of cell-based production into account.
BeneMeat develops cell lines and technologies for the scalable production of cultivated meat. In 2023, the company was registered in the European Union as a producer of cultivated meat for pet food.
