KSP: ARRIVAL of cellular agriculture- Enabling biotechnology for future food production

ARRIVAL aims to produce milk, egg, and meat proteins using fermentation and cell cultivation with Norwegian inputs. The project also explores societal opportunities and obstacles for new food products. We’ve held three project meetings (two in person, one digital), three digital Management Committee meetings, and numerous internal meetings. A Sintef workshop for WP1 included discussions, presentations, and a lab visit. Sissel B. Rønning helped organise two international conferences with contributions from project participants. Jamal Osman completed his master’s thesis in July 2024, and Solvor Rustad is now a master’s student in WP1. TINE has produced three rounds of by-products from various dairy products, treated with lactase to release glucose for Pichia and milk protein production. Norilia evaluated and selected residual plus-products as nitrogen sources for precision fermentation and microcarriers and scaffolds for lab-grown meat. They provided eggshell membranes and split hide for these purposes. Nortura participated in discussions and meetings throughout the project. We have chosen the yeast Pichia pastoris to produce animal proteins through precision fermentation. Yeast strains expressing milk and egg white protein have been constructed using CRISPR/Cas technology. We have processed and characterised five dairy by-products, demonstrating their suitability as a carbon source for milk protein production in Pichia. We are also optimising the composition of inputs for cultivating production strains to develop a more straightforward and cost-effective growth medium that ensures good growth and protein production. We have explored bacterial cellulose (BC), eggshell membrane (ESM), and alginate for cultured meat production. Muscle cells grow well on these materials but lose properties over time, needing optimisation. Using BC or ESM as “glue” between cell layers failed, so we shifted focus to BC and alginate as bio-ink for 3D printing, showing promising results. Alginate and ESM beads worked in static culture but not in bioreactors. We’re now exploring other biomaterials like split hide from cattle and decellularised chicken hearts. At the beginning of ARRIVAL, we conducted a world café to discuss major societal issues: political consequences of cultured meat, winners and losers, the relationship with nature, and consumer views and thoughts. This issue was also discussed at a world café organised at the international AFINO conference (Responsible Research and Innovation). In collaboration with two universities in England, ARRIVAL has developed and is testing an educational program about future proteins aimed at primary schools. In partnership with the strategic projects at Nofima (Precision and FoodforFuture), we conducted a consumer survey on cultured meat. It shows that attitudes vary, from great enthusiasm to disgust. We are now planning to conduct a similar consumer survey on precision fermentation. At EurSafe 2024 (European Society of Agricultural and Food Ethics), we presented the educational program and critical reflections on funding alternative proteins. We also presented results from the consumer survey. This year, the Technology Council has been working on mapping trends that will influence the potential development and policy for cultured meat in Norway. Through horizon scanning, we have gathered early signals of development trends that might impact CellAg or vice versa. Horizon scanning will help us look forward in time and contextualise different areas. The aim is to pinpoint the most crucial questions that academic communities, policymakers, the industry, and the public should consider when evaluating the reasons and methods for developing and regulating CellAg in Norway. We have utilised horizon scanning through literature reviews and participatory processes to achieve this. ARRIVAL has joined the Centre for Digital Life Norway, a project transforming Norwegian biotechnological research and education to boost innovation and societal value. ARRIVAL participants will attend the annual conference in October 2024. The project has published two popular science articles, featured in the media thrice, and contributed to 15 user-oriented activities. Additionally, it has delivered three scientific book chapters. Dissemination includes lectures, panel discussions, workshops, world cafés, poster presentations, participation in NRK P2’s Abels tårn, features in Aftenposten, and an article in the Research Ethics Library.

Global food production must increase more than 60% towards 2050, and as a result, there has been increasing pressure on the livestock sector to meet the growing demand for high-value animal protein. Although plant-based alternatives have a lot of potentials, these cannot truly mimic animal proteins, recreate the nutritional value, nor the mouthfeel, taste, or functionality. Also, from a circular bioeconomy perspective, increased recycling of waste streams from food production will be necessary. We will employ ground-breaking new, enabling, and fundamentally different technologies to produce food proteins by Cellular Agriculture (CellAg). There are two kinds of CellAg production systems, precision fermentation, and cultured meat, and in ARRIVAL we will use both to produce milk, egg, and meat proteins, homologous to proteins normally produced through conventional agriculture, using Norwegian raw materials and by-products as input. CellAg is a revolution in food production that can lead to major changes in agricultural production and ownership, land use, policymaking, food habits, and ethical questions. In ARRIVAL we aim to enable wider implementation of alternative animal protein sources in food production chains, as well as preparing society, consumers, and the food industry for the potential impacts of this radical shift in production methods. In addition to investigating the technological changes CellAg represents, we will through a transdisciplinary approach explore the foundations that must be laid before Norwegian consumers and society will and can adapt to this technology. Through ARRIVAL we will develop enabling biotechnology and knowledge, which will improve and modernize the existing land-based food industry. The novel biotechnological methodology to be developed will in long term potentially be the foundation of a new kind of Norwegian food industry that will produce tomorrow's food in a smart, sustainable, and innovative way.