United Nations‘ (UN) Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates suggest that global meat supply reached 364 million tonnes in 2023, and could increase to 455 million tonnes by 2050 as the global population continues to grow.
This urgent need to meet rising meat demands worldwide and at the same time address the impact of livestock farming on the environment and climate change means that new solutions are needed - beyond pastures. Cultivated meat that is grown in bioreactors as cultured cells is expanding the new food sector. According to one report there are in excess of 170 publicly announced cultivated meat and seafood companies, and more than $3.1 billion has been invested in the industry.
The good news is that GEA offers a wealth of expertise in bioreactor design and configuration for cultivated meat production. Whether you are at the lab bench R&D stage or looking to progress from bench to pilot-scale, or if you are ready to scale up and establish an end-to-end commercial production line for cultivated meat or seafood, experts at our global centers of excellence can provide in depth process and engineering knowhow. And at the dedicated GEA New Food Application and Technology Center of Excellence (ATC), we can work together with you to design and test your cells in pilot scale bioreactors, and use the latest digital tools to accurately model the optimum parameters and setup for scaling up healthy cell growth and productivity to allow production at industrially viable volumes.
Toward cellular agriculture
Cultivated animal meat, also known as cultured, cell-based or lab-grown meat, is a real animal product. It’s created by taking cells from established collections of pluripotent stem cells - derived from a cow or a chicken egg, for example – and propagating these cells in bioreactors. The cells are supplied with all the oxygen and nutrients they need to grow and replicate. The exact composition of the growth medium can be tailored to trigger differentiation of the immature cells into the desired cell type, say muscle or fat cells. These replicating cells can then be harvested from the bioreactor and processed into the desired product.
Cell cultivation is carried out in a closed system. The required gases and nutrients are fed into the system, and unwanted byproducts and waste generated by the cells are removed. It’s all precisely controlled to support cell health and growth. This may all sound high-tech, but the basic process uses proven methods and technologies that have been around for a long time.
Upstream first – with bioreactors
GEA can configure and supply both standardized and customized high-performance bioreactors for pilot plants and for large-scale industrial applications – whether as a stand-alone plant or as part of an automated process unit.
In addition to sterile working conditions, permanent media quality is not just wishful thinking, but technically achievable. With perfusion technology, separation is carried out permanently over a number of days or weeks – i.e. growth-inhibiting substances are continuously removed and replaced by new medium. The cell concentrate is returned to the bioreactor. This creates precisely the right environment for the cell to continue growing.
In downstream processes, it’s all about maximum concentration!
Importantly, we don’t just configure and supply bioreactor technology, we’ll collaborate to configure a downstream process line designed so you can process your end product as efficiently as possible. Our globally recognized centrifugation technology is an ideal fit for separating out and concentrating the cells from your cell culture solution.
Further equipment includes grinding and mixing technologies to prepare the cell concentrate for further processing – which may include forming, coating, cooking or frying – as well as systems that can freeze, slice and pack your final product. We’ll always aim to help you establish a top-performing, effective line for creating innovative high quality nutritional products for emerging markets.
Where food pioneers are testing and scaling
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产品与技术
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GEA Axenic® C for Cell Culture
The GEA Axenic C product line is an industrial-scale bioreactor system that has been designed specifically for cultivating mammalian and other eukaryotic cells in the food industry.
GEA Axenic® P for Pilot Processes
GEA Axenic® P is a flexible pilot-scale bioreactor designed to help you scale up cell cultivation and precision fermentation processes for a wide range of new food application.
GEA 新食品应用和技术卓越中心
新食品应用和技术卓越中心 (ATC) 已成为支持新兴细胞农业领域创新的中心枢纽。该 GEA 设施提供领先的生物反应器和精密发酵，并在高度灵活的中试规模设置中分配上游和下游技术，因此您可以试验和评估发酵和细胞培养过程，并扩大规模。
GEA 虚拟生物反应器测试
GEA 将最新的计算流体动力学工具和动力学模型与先进的计算能力相结合，产生了一种可以数字化反映从实验室工作台到工业规模的几乎任何生物反应器环境的技术。
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GEA 洞察
定制挤奶设备支持奶牛和农场主的福祉
健康快乐的奶牛是成功和可持续牛奶生产的关键。因此，保持奶牛健康是每个奶农努力的核心。奶牛的健康受到许多因素影响，例如根据奶牛个体需求进行适当喂养、良好的饲养条件以及新鲜的空气、水和光照。而且，挤奶方式对奶牛的健康状况也有很大的影响。GEA 因其“优质挤奶理念”而闻名，不断致力于进一步发展，并在动物健康和牛奶质量方面取得更好的成果。
利用 GEA 的整体工程解决方案实现净零排放
各行各业都在努力实现净零排放目标，同时遵守严格的脱碳法规和立法。与此同时，公司必须平衡日益增长的质量、产品开发和工艺优化需求，此外，还必须努力提高盈利能力。应对这一挑战需要采取 GEA 提供的协作和整体方法。
在餐桌上享用…新食品：打造我们食品的未来
咖啡、可可、牛奶、肉类、鱼类和蛋类 - 这些日常主食在很大程度上依赖集约农业。随着新食品技术的兴起，我们有了更多可持续的替代品。我们采访了 GEA 液体、发酵和灌装部门的高级副总裁 Reimar Gutte 博士，探讨其中的可能性和政策。
