Meat, dairy and sugar grown in a lab could be on sale in the UK for human consumption for the first time within two years, sooner than expected.
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) is looking at how it can speed up the approval process for lab-grown foods.
Such products are grown from cells in small chemical plants.
UK firms have led the way in the field scientifically but feel they have been held back by the current regulations.
Aston University has been working on cultivated meat find out more about what lab-made meat is made of and how it is created in the podcast Breaking Down Barriers on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/episode/7bFy1gr2LJCwiRLPAT9Hml For further details contact Nicola Jones, Press and Communications Manager, on (+44) 7825 342091 or email: n.jones6@aston.ac.uk
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Aston University named as one of the UK’s leaders in the potential future of food Highlighted for research, teaching, public outreach, industry links and location Process uses cells taken from animals via biopsy, so doesn’t involve slaughter. Aston University has been named as one of the UK’s leading lights in what is predicted to be the future of food lab-made meat.
The University is one of 17 higher education institutions that are expected to play a major role in the development of cultivated meat.
Cultivated or lab-grown meat is made from cells taken from animals via biopsy. The cells are used to create meat which doesn’t involve the slaughter of animals. The process promises fewer greenhouse gases and a decrease in land required for its production compared to traditional livestock.
The list of universities has been compiled by Cellular Agriculture UK, a non-profit organisation which promotes the UK’s so-called ‘cell-ag’ sector. Aston University is one of five institutions they chose to highlight in their report Mapping the potential for UK universities to become research and teaching hubs for cellular agriculture.
Aston University is described in the report as having potential to be an anchor institution for cellular agriculture, and was highlighted for its research and teaching, public outreach work, links with emerging industry and its central location.
Dr Eirini Theodosiou, senior lecturer in the School of lnfrastructure and Sustainable Engineering, focuses on ways to produce enough cell mass to create the meat. She said: “This is still a relatively new food technology. Unlike many others we work on biomaterials for microcarriers/scaffolds for cultivated meat, which puts us in a very strong position, in the UK at least.”
Meanwhile Dr Jason Thomas’ work explores the psychology behind supporting people to accept lab-made food. Although many people are willing to try it, there are still many who are reluctant to do so. A recent study of the US and UK found that 35% of meat eaters and 55% of vegetarians claimed they were too disgusted by the idea of cultured meat to even try it. A key goal of his research is how to support people to not just try it but to integrate it into their diet.
Dr Thomas said: “We are interested in finding out what factors can influence consumer purchase of and consumption of lab-made meat.”
“The engineering/psychology link is one of our USPs and is something Aston University can capitalise on; learning what the consumer wants from cultivated meat, and what would encourage them to consume it, using psychological science, and then incorporating this directly into the production process via engineering.
“It is a relatively new food technology, and much work still needs to be done to make it affordable, acceptable and on a massive scale, but it could easily end up being one of the most transformative new foods of the 21st century.”
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Research at Aston University focuses on both creating lab-based meat and its psychological acceptance Dr Eirini Theodosiou and Dr Jason Thomas will be speaking at April’s Society matters LIVE event Lab made meat on the menu? will take place at Cafe Artum in Hockley Social Club on Thursday 27 April. Lab made meat will be the topic of the latest Society matters LIVE event from Aston University at Café Artum at Birmingham’s Hockley Social Club on Thursday 27 April.
Dr Eirini Theodosiou and Dr Jason Thomas at Aston University are conducting research into lab-made or cultivated meat, both exploring the creation of the meat and the psychological impact of the product.
Dr Eirini Theodosiou, senior lecturer in the School of lnfrastructure and Sustainable Engineering, focuses on ways to produce enough cell mass to create the meat. Meanwhile Dr Jason Thomas’ work explores the psychology behind supporting people to accept lab-made food.
The research comes as current trends indicate that demand for animal-based foods will increase by 70% in 2050 to feed the predicted 9.8 billion people.
Dr Theodosiou said: “Cultivated or lab grown meat offers a safer, more sustainable and animal cruelty-free alternative for consumers. It is a very young industry trying to replace traditional meat production methods however, with 800 million people worldwide suffering from hunger and malnutrition, it is a viable option.”
“In addition, the livestock industry is responsible for 12-18% of the total greenhouse gas emissions and is a cause of deforestation. Increased meat production and factory farming are the topmost likely causes of the next pandemic due to the extensive use of antibiotics and increasing emergence of zoonotic diseases.”
Dr Thomas said: “It is a relatively new food technology, and much work still needs to be done to make it affordable and on a massive scale. We are interested in finding out what factors can influence consumer purchase of and consumption of lab-made meat.”
The event is organised by Aston University and Café Artum at Hockley Social Club as part of the Society matters LIVE series.
Free tickets are available at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/lab-made-meat-on-the-menu-tickets-464161147487?aff=ebdsoporgprofile
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Biography
Dr Eirini Theodosiou is an experienced biochemical engineer with more than 20 years of leadership in industrial and academic research. She holds a Diploma in Chemical Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens, an MSc in Biochemical Engineering from University College London, and a PhD in Biotechnology from the Technical University of Denmark (DTU). Before joining academia, she worked as a Senior R&D Scientist and Purification Team Leader at Xellia Pharmaceuticals. She is currently a Senior Lecturer in Chemical and Biochemical Engineering at Aston University.
Dr Theodosiou’s research contributes to several UN Sustainable Development Goals, including Zero Hunger, Good Health and Wellbeing, Reduced Inequalities, and Responsible Consumption and Production. Her work focuses on developing selective separation methods for advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs) for clinical use, alongside edible scaffold design and bioreactor engineering to improve vertebrate cell expansion and differentiation for cellular agriculture applications.
She plays an active role in the biochemical engineering and cellular agriculture communities. Dr Theodosiou is Webinar Coordinator for IChemE’s Biochemical Engineering Special Interest Group and Deputy Secretary of the UK Society for Cell Culture Biotechnology (ESACT UK). She is also a member of Cellular Agriculture Greece and the Network for Cellular Agriculture (NCA), serves as an Associate Editor for the Journal of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology, is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.
Professor Claire Farrow and Dr Eirini Theodosiou, from Aston University, discuss their latest research around the subject: Cultivated meat: The food of the future?
Food-grade fungal pellets as edible scaffolds for bovine stem cell expansion
Innovative Food Science & Emerging Technologies
2026
The scalability of cultivated meat production depends on cost-effective, edible scaffolds that support attachment, proliferation and differentiation of adherent cells whilst meeting food safety and sensory requirements. However, most existing microcarriers are synthetic or of animal-origin, limiting their compatibility with food applications, increasing downstream processing costs, and raising ethical and environmental concerns associated with animal use. For the first time, we present mycelia-based microcarriers derived from food-grade Penicillium strains used in cheese production, as scaffolds for cultivated meat. Eight strains, including novel variants developed through non-GMO techniques (sexual breeding and ultraviolet mutagenesis), were screened for cytotoxicity using bovine adipose-derived stem cells.
Scaffolds are customisable three-dimensional supports that are compatible with cell culture and thus suitable for a wide range of applications. One emerging application is cultivated meat production. Due to the complexity of cultivated meat products, multiple types of scaffolds would be required for the different manufacturing steps involved. Additionally, as cultivated meat is a food product intended for consumption, there are further requirements in the scaffold’s material, properties and method of preparation that are necessary to achieve suitability for use in foods, as well as regulatory requirements for safe use. This chapter focuses on edible scaffolds with applicability in cultivated meat production, exploring established and emerging materials suitable for use in foods, methods for scaffold creation, as well as different types of scaffolds and the diverse roles they play across various stages of the manufacturing process.
Edible electrospun materials for scalable cultivated beef production
Food and Bioproducts Processing
2025
Cultivated meats are a direct response to an ever-increasing global demand for meat, that will alleviate the negative impacts of animal farming on the environment and food security. Despite recent advances, however, challenges regarding scalability and costs remain, impeding the availability and affordability of these novel foods. Consequently, this study aims to design novel edible and biocompatible scaffolds for the expansion of bovine mesenchymal stem cells, using silk fibroin from degummed Bombyx mori cocoons. The scaffolds were created from 12 % (w/w) silk fibroin in formic acid via two different methods of electrospinning, a needle-based laboratory set-up and a needleless configuration with the ability to produce non-woven fabrics at industrial scale. The supports were further treated with methanol or ethanol, which induced β-sheet crystallisation and preserved their fibrous nature in an aqueous environment for at least 2 weeks, with
Mechanical properties and texture profile analysis of beef burgers and plant-based analogues
Journal of Food Engineering
2025
Cultivated meat, or cultured meat, is lab-grown from animal stem cells, differentiated into muscle and/or fat, to yield meat products. The process is more sustainable and more ethical than traditional farming, allowing to meet growing consumer demand. However, there remains a challenge in replicating the organoleptic properties of commercially available meat products for cultivated meat applications. Consequently, this study employs single-cycle uniaxial testing (flexion, tension, compression, cutting) governed by ISO standards, and texture profiling analysis, to ascertain the modulus, yield strain, hardness, adhesiveness, cohesiveness, springiness, resilience and chewiness of seven commercially available burgers. These were tested both raw and cooked, and comprise beef (including a range of beef contents, fat percentages and price points) and plant-based analogues.
Scaling cell production sustainably in cultured meat product development
Burleigh Dodds Science Publishing Limited
2023
Cultured meat is an emerging novel food with potential to address many of the shortcomings of meat produced through intensified animal farming. To date, only one cultured meat product has received regulatory approval for commercialisation in Singapore. However these are still available on an order-by-order basis and at a relatively high price. The vision is that the cultured meat products will become affordable and readily available to the population. However, in order to achieve that vision multiple challenges are still to be addressed. This chapter will focus specifically on the scalable production and approaches to achieving sustainability in manufacturing of cultured meats. Lessons will be drawn from other relevant industries.
Assessment of thermally stabilized electrospun poly(vinyl alcohol) materials as cell permeable membranes for a novel blood salvage device
Biomaterials Advances
2023
The use of Intraoperative Cell Salvage (ICS) is currently limited in oncological surgeries, due to safety concerns associated with the ability of existing devices to successfully remove circulating tumour cells. In this work, we present the first stages towards the creation of an alternative platform to current cell savers, based on the extremely selective immunoaffinity membrane chromatography principle. Non-woven membranes were produced via electrospinning using poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA), and further heat treated at 180 °C to prevent their dissolution in aqueous environments and preserve their fibrous morphology. The effects of the PVA degree of hydrolysis (DH) (98 % vs 99 %), method of electrospinning (needleless DC vs AC), and heat treatment duration (1–8 h) were investigated. All heat treated supports maintained their cytocompatibility, whilst tensile tests indicated that the 99 % hydrolysed DC electrospun mats were stronger compared to their 98 % DH counterparts.
