Cultivated meat is often texturally and physically meat-like, but typically misses the mark in terms of flavour.
Could a pink-jelly-like substance impart the meaty flavour which is often missing from lab-grown meat? A team of researchers from Yonsei University and Kangwon National University in South Korea believe so.
The team, whose findings were published in Nature Communications, developed a flavour-switchable scaffold (SFC) designed to simulate the Maillard reaction and enhance the flavour profile of cultivated meat.
Mimicking the Maillard reaction
When we think about the flavour of conventional meat, it's usually associated with how it tastes in the mouth. However, research suggests that when it comes to taste, the smell is responsible for 80% of flavour.
This scent is generated from the Maillard reaction, a process named after French chemist Louis Camille Maillard. It refers to the browning process that occurs between amino acids and reducing sugars. The reaction, which typically happens at temperatures between 140 to 165°C, produces a complex mixture of molecules responsible for a range of aromas and flavours, contributing significantly to the taste and smell of cooked foods like seared steaks and beef patties.
Recreating the Maillard reaction could address the flavour gap in cultivated meat, and potentially make lab-grown meat products more appealing to consumers.
Switchable flavour compounds (SFCs) release meaty flavours during cooking
To mimic this flavour, the researchers began by designing a scaffold. In this study, they used a hydrogel using gelatine — a common ingredient derived from animal parts.
Next, the team introduced switchable flavour compounds (SFCs) into the gelatine scaffold. These compounds consisted of a flavour group and two binding groups. The flavour group used was furfuryl mercaptan, recognised as a Maillard reaction product formed from cooked beef, with flavour notes of roasted meat and coffee.
Bovine (cow) cells were then grown and matured on the gelatine scaffold over 15 days. The cells developed into a structure resembling traditional meat, confirming that the scaffold supported cell growth and differentiation effectively.
The cultivated meat, which resembled a light pink translucent and firm gel, was then heated to cooking temperatures of 150°C. At this temperature the SFCs within the gel scaffold activated, releasing flavours that mimicked those produced by the Maillard reaction in conventional meat.
To test and compare the aromas of the cultivated meat with those of conventional meat, the researchers used an electronic nose (e-nose), which mimics the human sense of smell, as the materials used were not approved as edible.
The e-nose analysis showed that the cultivated meat produced similar aromatic compounds to those found in cooked beef, suggesting that the flavour-enhancing strategy was effective.
Future research needed to ensure the cultivated meat is safe for human consumption
The study primarily focused on the scientific aspects of using gelatine-based scaffolds and flavour compounds, rather than commercialisation. Consequently, non-food grade substances were used, posing a limitation in terms of safety for actual food products. Future research will need to incorporate food-grade materials to ensure the cultivated meat meets safety standards for consumer use, the researchers said.
Despite this limitation, the ability to release specific meaty aromas and flavours during cooking holds the potential for making cultivated meat more appealing to consumers, as it would align closer to the sensory qualities associated with conventional meat.
This approach, alongside addressing the flavour gap of cultivated meat, also opens pathways for further customisation of flavour profiles, allowing producers to tailor flavours to meet different consumer preferences.
While animal-based gelatine was used in the study, the researchers noted that moving towards an almost animal-free process by replacing gelatine with plant-based alternatives may be possible.
What does the landscape look like for cultivated meat commercialisation?
Despite advancements, and even if cultivated meat with SFCs were developed for human consumption, commercialising this technology would face another set of hurdles including regulatory approval.
Some cultivated meat products are approved for sale in Singapore, the US, and Israel, but it is still considered a novel food in Europe, which means it must be subject to rigorous evaluation and testing before it can receive approval for sale on the market.
The technology also faces resistance from the farming sector.
In January, EU agriculture ministers said the practice was “a threat to primary farm-based approaches and genuine food production methods that are at the very heart of the European farming model”.
This position was supported by the Czech, Cypriot, Greek, Hungarian, Luxembourg, Maltese, Polish, Romanian, Slovak and Spanish delegations, as reported by The Brussels Times.
In November 2023, Italy banned lab-grown meat in a move to “protect farmers” and maintain its “culinary traditions” while in January 2024, France considered placing restrictions on cultivated meat after parliamentarians presented a bill in the National Assembly that would ban the commercialisation of cell-based meat.
Not all EU member states are of this opinion. The Netherlands, for example, became the first country in the EU to allow limited tasting of cultivated meat and seafood in 2023, and in April this year, foodtech company Meatable successfully hosted the first cultivated meat-tasting in EU.
