Cellular agriculture: the food revolution?

The food industry has been facing enormous challenges for around ten years. Companies are searching intensively for valuable ingredients that can be produced using sustainable value chains. At the same time, these ingredients must meet the demanding needs of consumers and increasingly stringent environmental regulations.
From a technological perspective, the production of alternative food ingredients through cellular agriculture (using cell cultures), could be one such solution. For example, oil-containing ingredients could be produced in a sustainable manner: so-called ‘precision fermentation’ offers potential here.

Problems with traditional agriculture

Vegetable oils are an integral part of our diet and rank third in consumption after rice and wheat. They add flavour, improve consistency, enrich foods and are used for cooking at high temperatures. However, monocultures of traditional oil crops such as oil palms (see photos below) and cocoa trees and the conversion of natural landscapes into agricultural land are a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions from traditional vegetable oils.

Given the enormous environmental impact of palm oil or cocoa butter production, there is still no industrial-scale biotechnological platform for the production of alternative oils for food applications that are approved for human consumption.

New innovative solutions are therefore needed to bridge the gap between the growing demand for sustainable food and the technological and economic challenges of scaling up biotechnological processes, particularly with regard to circular economy approaches using recyclable raw materials.

Where tropical forests once stood, monocultures such as palm oil plantations are now often found, as here in Indonesia.

A technological alternative: cellular agriculture

The problems mentioned above clearly show that, in the long term, we need an alternative to traditional agriculture as it is currently practised. Cellular agriculture could be such a solution. In this approach, plant products are no longer produced by breeding and harvesting whole organisms, but by cultivating cells in bioreactors. This method includes the production of alternative edible fats such as yeast oils or other food ingredients from cell cultures. What's more, there are no limits to the applications of these alternatives: they can be used in baked goods as a substitute for butter or in chocolate as an alternative to cocoa butter.

A study in the journal Nature in 2024 concluded that cellular agriculture can reduce greenhouse gas emissions and agricultural land use. According to the authors, a transition from traditional to cellular agriculture is fundamentally possible, with overwhelming benefits for the environment. However, the extent to which this potential can actually be exploited under real conditions remains open. The somewhat optimistic conclusions are certainly debatable, but they are encouraging, especially for the further development of innovative approaches in food production.

• Reduced land use: No more need for large areas of land for cultivation. The use of agricultural land could be reduced by 83%, as less land is needed to grow plant-based foods.
• Species and climate protection: Lower CO₂ emissions and less pressure on ecosystems. A complete transition to cellular agriculture could reduce annual greenhouse gas emissions by 52% compared to current emissions from traditional agriculture.
• Targeted production: Only the products that are actually needed are manufactured, without wasting resources, which could lead to significantly lower water consumption in food production.

• High production costs: Cellular agriculture products are still very expensive and the technologies are energy-intensive.
• Technological hurdles: The scalability of the technology and the texture and taste of the food must be further optimised.
• Social acceptance: Many people are sceptical about cellular agriculture.

Where is the journey heading?

In many ways, we are still in the early stages of technological development. The first cellular agriculture companies are currently establishing themselves on the market, for example with fermented edible oils or laboratory-produced butter substitutes. However, the road to widespread application is long and fraught with many unanswered questions:

• When will cellular agriculture become economically competitive?
• How will food regulations be adapted worldwide?
• Will the switch to cellular agriculture actually help to slow down climate change and protect biodiversity?

Anyone who wants to position themselves successfully in this dynamic environment should look into the appropriate funding opportunities at an early stage. One example is the innovation network ‘InnoLipids’, which we manage and which is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs (BMWi, formerly BMWK) through the ‘ZIM’ programme. The network focuses on innovative technologies for essential fatty acids and oils. One of the goals is to develop alternative ways of producing vegetable oils and oil-containing food ingredients based on cellular and microbial biotechnology.

Whether you are a start-up, SME or research institution, our experts in biotechnology in the food industry are at your side, from selecting suitable programmes to submitting your application.

Text: Karoline Wissmann