Start-up develops marbled cell-cultivated pork loin

While there has been steady and impressive technical progression in the development of cultivated — or lab-grown — meats, they are not able to perfectly imitate conventional cuts. Now an American start-up company has developed pork loin that more closely resembles animal-based meat thanks to the marbling effect of fat rippled throughout.

Novel Farms Inc, funded by investment company Big Ideas Ventures (BIV), has worked to produce a cell cultured cut of meat that is accessible and that has similar properties to regular animal meat.

The company produced an edible scaffolding using a microbial fermentation method. It also produced a tissue development platform that lets the company produce meat from a wide range of different animals.

The new ‘cut’ of pork has a marbled effect with fat mixed throughout the meat, which is designed to make the cell-cultured product tastier with a good texture.

“Our goal is to accelerate the widespread adoption of cultivated meat and its benefits by producing ‘hard-to-resist’ whole muscle cuts,” said Novel Farms co-founder Nieves Martinez Marshall.

“Therefore, we need to be able to fulfil consumer demand by delivering cultivated meat with the same fibrous texture and mouthfeel as conventional cuts from an animal.”

BIV invested in the start-up early, helping it raise $1.4 in a pre-seed funding round.

“We have worked with Novel Farms from their earliest days and are excited about what they have accomplished in the cultivated meat category,” said Andrew D Ive, Managing General Partner for Big Idea Ventures.

“They have always tackled the scale-up challenges with fresh and novel approaches and Big Idea Ventures is glad to support them throughout their journey as true innovation leaders. Novel Farms are ones to watch, support and partner with as they bring sustainable protein to the world market.”

BIV’s investment is part of its larger involvement in the cultivated meats industry.

Image credit: iStock.com/microgen