Fetal Bovine Serum Archives - vegconomist - the vegan business magazine

Simple Planet makes cultivated meat powder for f&&B applications

Cultivated, Cell-Cultured & Biotechnology

Simple Planet Unveils Serum-Free Cell Culture Medium, Slashing Costs by 99.8%

February 21, 2025February 19, 2025

South Korea-based alternative protein company Simple Planet has announced the development of a patented, serum-free cell culture medium designed for use in cell-based food production, biopharmaceuticals, and regenerative medicine. The medium, created through probiotics recycling, is expected to launch globally in 2025. According to the company, the formulation could reduce production costs by over 99.8% compared to conventional media. By replacing fetal bovine serum (FBS) with probiotics-derived metabolites, the medium eliminates ethical concerns and the high costs associated with animal-derived components. Successful trials & enhanced cell growth The new cell culture medium has undergone successful trials in collaboration with global research institutions and innovation centers. Testing has demonstrated that the formulation enhances myoblast cell proliferation while maintaining normal cell morphology, positioning it as a potential …

Organisations and brands:

Simple Planet

Investments & Finance

Australian Government Backs Magic Valley with $100K to Advance Cultivated Meat

February 13, 2025

Australian cultivated meat company Magic Valley has received a $100,000 grant from the federal government’s Industry Growth Program (IGP). The funding, part of a broader $400 million initiative, is intended to help startups expand into fully operational enterprises. Magic Valley is known for its animal component-free cultivated meat, produced using induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). This technology enables continuous cell growth without the use of fetal bovine serum, something that has been a key challenge in cultivated meat production. The company gained attention in 2022 when it became the first to produce cultivated lamb using iPSCs. In the following years, it introduced cultivated pork mince and hosted a tasting event featuring cultivated pork bao buns in Brunswick, Melbourne. The funding will support scaling production, optimizing …

Organisations and brands:

Magic Valley

Image credit: Omeat

Cultivated Meat

Omeat Develops Slaughter-Free FBS Alternative From Bovine-Plasma

August 21, 2023

Omeat is a cultivated meat company established in Los Angeles, California, founded by world-renowned tissue engineer and former MIT and Harvard professor Dr. Ali Khademhosseini. The company aims to grow “delicious real meat” from animal cells but without the environmental impact of traditional farming. After years of working behind the scenes, Omeat revealed an alternative to fetal bovine serum (FBS) made with the bovine plasma of healthy cows. FBS is an ethically controversial and expensive cell nutrient media used by multiple industries. In 2022, Omeat’s approach gained the interest of investors, raising $40 million from S2G Ventures, Google Ventures (GV), Bold Capital Partners, Tyson Ventures (the venture capital arm of Tyson Foods, Inc.), Rethink Food, Trailhead Capital, and Cavallo Ventures. Currently, Omeat is focused on cultivating beef. The company …

Organisations and brands:

Omeat

Omeat Develops Slaughter-Free FBS Alternative From Bovine-Plasma

May 26, 2024August 21, 2023

Organisations and brands:

Omeat

Cultivated, Cell-Cultured & Biotechnology

Mewery Develops “World’s First” Prototype Based on Cultivated Pork and Microalgae

February 7, 2023

In October 2022, Czech cultivated pork startup Mewery announced it had obtained the proof of concept for growing mammalian cells using microalgae growth factors instead of fetal bovine serum. Just a few months later, after proving the feasibility of its cultivation process, Mewery announces the successful development of a cultivated pork prototype using its proprietary microalgae-based growth medium. An important milestone for the company, which claims that its medium saves 70% of the costs compared to conventional FBS methods, bridging the price parity challenge with animal meat. This development, according to the company, is the world’s first cultivated pork prototype consisting of 100% cells —75% pork and 25% microalgae cells — contrasting with many prototypes that rely on plant proteins for texture and consistency, says …

Organisations and brands:

Mewery

Image: vegconomist

Cultivated, Cell-Cultured & Biotechnology

The Companies Removing Fetal Bovine Serum to Make Ethical, Slaughter-Free Meat

June 21, 2023January 24, 2023

Last week, GOOD Meat received the first-in-the-world regulatory approval to use fetal bovine serum-free media in its cultivated poultry production process. With this significant milestone in the history of cultivated meat, we discuss the companies paving the way for ethical, slaughter-free meat. Removing fetal bovine serum (FBS) from cultivated meat production has been among the industry’s major challenges. FBS has been the default growth supplement for in vitro cell culture used by academic and industrial researchers and scientists, including in the cellular agriculture space. Ethically problematic Fetal bovine serum is made by harvesting the blood of bovine fetuses taken from pregnant cows during slaughter. Blood from the fetus is drawn out via a closed collection system and then transformed into a serum. FBS contains growth factors, hormones, …

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IntegriCulture Becomes First to Cultivate Cells Without Animal Serum at 1/60th of Cost

April 1, 2022

IntegriCulture Inc. claims to have performed the first successful cultivation of chicken and duck liver-derived cells in an animal serum-free basal medium. Using the company’s proprietary CulNet system the cost has been estimated to be just 1/60th compared to when using a conventional animal serum. IntegriCulture claims to have successfully replaced all research-grade materials with food materials to achieve functional equivalence at such a reduced cost. The Japanese biotech also claims to be the first in the world to implement a cell culture with a serum-free basal medium. The CulNet system, which emulates natural inter-organ interactions, is key to recent developments. Animal serum, normally used as a medium to cultivate cells for meat, is prohibitively expensive and comes with its own ethical issues. The CulNet …

Organisations and brands:

Integriculture

Opalia CEO and co-founder Jennifer Côté. © Opalia

Cultivated, Cell-Cultured & Biotechnology

Opalia’s Animal-Free Milk Closer to Launch After Removal of Fetal Bovine Serum

June 21, 2023March 10, 2022

Opalia’s animal-free milk is now closer to commercialisation after the Canadian company replaced its cell culture medium, fetal bovine serum (FBS), with a non-animal-derived alternative. FBS comes from the placenta of pregnant cows, making it a controversial ingredient in products that are intended to be animal-free. The serum is also expensive, prone to contamination, and highly variable between batches. But now, Opalia has found a replacement substrate that is FDA-approved, making its cell-based milk more ethical and potentially speeding up the process of regulatory approval. Alternatives to FBS Several companies have been working on alternative cell culture media — such as Aleph Farms, which is collaborating with WACKER to develop a non-exclusive medium that will be available to other companies. Meanwhile, scientists have found a …

Organisations and brands:

Opalia

©CellMeat

Cultivated, Cell-Cultured & Biotechnology

South Korea’s CellMEAT Produces Cell Culture Medium Without Fetal Bovine Serum

December 15, 2021

South Korean company CellMEAT‘s new product, a cell culture medium without foetal bovine serum, will help reduce the production costs of cultured meat and circumvent ethical concerns within the cultured meat industry. CellMEAT recently announced a pre-series A funding round of $4.5 million. CellMEAT was selected as a participant in the Tech Incubator programme for startups in 2019. Recognised for its technical developments that could lead to more sustainable cultured meat production, it was nominated to participate in a collaborative research project investigating muscle stem cells for this area in 2021. Now the company has developed an FBS-free cell culture medium that could revolutionise production. Cell culture medium without fetal bovine serum The newly available cell culture medium without fetal bovine serum is the result …

Organisations and brands:

CellMeat

New Stem Cell Lines That Can Be Grown Without Serum Could Slash the Cost of Cultivated Meat

December 8, 2021

Scientists obtain animal stem cells that can be grown without serum, with the potential to dramatically reduce the production costs of cultivated meat. Researchers from the University of Nottingham‘s School of Biosciences, in collaboration with the Universities of Cambridge, Exeter, Tokyo, and Meiji, have developed stem cell lines that can be grown under chemically defined conditions. This breakthrough could make it possible to produce cultivated meat without serum, feeder cells, or antibiotics. Currently, most cultivated meat production relies on fetal bovine serum (FBS), which is expensive, of inconsistent quality, and has attracted ethical concerns. The ability to cultivate cells in a chemical growth medium could greatly improve the consistency and safety of cultivated products, as well as dramatically cutting costs. For the purposes of the …

Cultivated, Cell-Cultured & Biotechnology

Future Fields Raises $2.2M, Aims to Slash the Cost of Cell-Cultured Meat

June 21, 2023March 31, 2021

Future Fields, a Canadian cell-cultured startup based in Edmonton, has raised US$2.2M from three American venture capital firms — Bee Partners, Pioneer Fund, and Narrative Fund. Several private investors also contributed.

Organisations and brands:

Future Fields

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