Pilot plant for cultivated pork for sustainable food systems

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Alongside the world's increasing population, we are seeing a huge rise in Global meat consumption. Together these have a huge negative impact on the environment and are key drivers in climate change, land conversion and degradation. Cultivated meat willallow people to continue eating meat but without the carbon footprint associated with farm reared animals, helping the UK reach net zero by 2040\. Cultivated meat is the same as conventionalmeat, but instead of slaughtering a whole animal for useful parts, a few cells are taken from the animal e.g. from the skin or muscle, to extractcells which are then grown under very controlled conditions to produce the equivalent constituents of meat (namely muscle and fat). This technology willprovide us with sustainable, healthier meat products, which are nutritionally identical to conventionalmeat but with a greatly reduced carbon footprint. All multicellular organisms grow from stem cells; they are the source of all cell types in animals and plants. The current work replicates these natural physiological processes, producingmeat at a much lower cost to the environment, our health and the animals. With this project, HigherSteaks plans to develop the UK's first pilot plant for cultivated meat. This will also be the world's largest cultivated pork production - to date, only chicken, beef and fish products have been brought to pilot scale. This will put the UK at the forefront of a rapidly growing industry that will have a significant impact on reaching net zero by 2040\.