Startups and academic labs have begun to produce cultivated meat grown from cells to replicate lamb, pork, fish and chicken, but the field of cellular agriculture is still very young
The Tufts University Center for Cellular Agriculture (TUCCA) in the US, has launched a new Consortium, consisting of industry and nonprofit members, to support research in a field that many consider the future of food. Cellular agriculture is an emerging technical solution to creating meat products from the growth of cells in a bioreactor, avoiding the need for farm animals, large swaths of cleared land, and outsized demands for feedstock, water and waste management.
The Consortium’s nine founding members represent companies and non-profits in cellular agriculture worldwide. They include BioFeyn, Cargill, CellX, the Good Food Institute, MilliporeSigma, ThermoFisher Scientific, TurtleTree, UPSIDE Foods, and Vow. The Consortium will be aided by faculty and resources at the Tufts School of Engineering, the School of Arts and Sciences, Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, the Friedman School of Nutrition and Science Policy, and the School of Medicine, as well as the Food & Nutrition Innovation Institute at the Friedman School.
Workforce training will be an important goal for the Consortium, which will set up an internship programme providing undergraduate and graduate students, and post-doctoral researchers the opportunity to work with member companies while honing their knowledge and skills on real world applications.
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