Measure the texture of cell cultured foods

What is cell cultured food?

Cell cultured food, also known as cultivated or cultured meat, is real animal meat – including seafood and organ meats – produced by growing animal cells in vitro using tissue engineering techniques. This innovative production method eliminates the need to raise and farm animals for food, offering a revolutionary alternative within the field of cellular agriculture.

Expected to account for approximately 35% of global meat consumption by 2040, cell cultured food has the potential to transform food production by addressing key challenges such as animal welfare, food security, human health, and the environmental impact associated with traditional meat production. This evolution parallels the reinvention of fermentation, pushing the boundaries of biology to create more precise, healthy, and sustainable foods and medicines.

Benefits of cell cultured food

• Humane: For many consumers, animal welfare is a primary motivator to choose alternative proteins. Cultured meat requires only a small biopsy from a sedated animal with no harm involved, enabling the production of authentic, real meat without animal slaughter. As the quality and availability of cultured meat improve, it offers an ethical alternative that may lead many to forgo conventionally slaughtered meat.
• Healthy: Cultured meat and fish products are free from antibiotics and added hormones commonly found in traditional meat. Additionally, they offer the possibility of tailored nutritional profiles. Studies indicate that nutritionally, switching to cultured beef has comparable health outcomes to conventional beef, while providing the same sensory experience through a more controlled production process.
• Sustainable: Sustainability is a driving force behind the adoption of cultivated meat. These products have the potential to dramatically reduce waste, land use, water consumption, deforestation, and greenhouse gas emissions compared to conventional animal farming. Given that a third of all food is lost due to inefficient supply chains and spoilage, cellular agriculture presents a more resource-efficient model for global food security. For example, producing a tonne of cultured beef could use up to 90% less water than traditional beef production, a critical advantage in water-scarce regions.

Countries like Singapore have led the way by approving the commercial sale of cultured meat and are investing in infrastructure to produce a significant portion of their food locally. This shift is driven by global events that exposed vulnerabilities in traditional food supply chains. Governments motivated to increase food autonomy are now turning toward alternative proteins as integral parts of sustainable national food strategies.

As traditional meat production consolidates within a few dominant companies, resulting supply chain fragilities have spurred investment and interest in scalable alternative protein technologies – including fermentation and cell culture – that go beyond conventional plant-based options.

The texture of traditional meat or fish has always been the most important factor in determining consumer acceptance, and the same is true for cell cultured alternatives.

For a consumer branching out to try a new, unfamiliar protein source, it is vital that its texture is favourable especially when it must have the ‘same-as’ sensory experience. Consumers are quick to show their disapproval if the taste, texture and cooking properties of a traditionally farmed meat or fish alternative fall short of the real thing and whilst consumers might be willing to try cultured or fermented products that avoid animal cruelty they will not be willing to compromise on taste and texture.

Beyond Meat, New Wave Foods and Impossible Foods have all made swift progress in the textural optimisation of their plant-based seafood using a Stable Micro Systems Texture Analyser in their patents to get ahead in the game in this exciting new field. Plant-based alternatives that mimic seafood are cropping up at restaurants and grocery stores around the world and “cultivated” seafood grown in labs from real cells, is on the horizon with Blue Nalu, Remilk, Upside Foods and New Age Meats identifying that texture is a priority to create the ‘same-as’ sensory experience in the cell cultured food market. It's only a matter of time before the legislation catches up with the technology to produce these products and it’s a race to get the best product in place at the start line!

See how meat and fish industry leaders use texture analysis to get ahead of their competition.

As with all alternative products, the proof is in the testing. The product will be rejected if the texture (and flavour) is not true to consumer expectation. That’s where texture analysis comes in.

Once the alternative product is formulated it will need to be compared with the ‘gold standard’ product, who’s texture analysis fingerprint will have been created as the ideal textural quality. If the replacement product is in any way different to the traditional product’s texture it may well be back to the drawing board. Can you risk launching a new product that doesn’t measure up in every sense?

The use of cultured/fermented products offers a perfect solution to a more sustainable food production system. Consumers are ready to embrace this trend, but will only do so if taste, texture and health remain uncompromised so you’ll need to make sure that texture analysis is part of your product development process.

Stable Micro Systems manufactures instruments that measure the tensile and compressional properties of raw ingredients, individual materials and finished products. It is important to measure the textural properties of food to ensure they match the expectations of a consumer. As with any manufacturing innovation the end-product must go through a quality control process to assess its mechanical (and sensorial) properties.

A Texture Analyser is a crucial part of this procedure, giving a reliable way to test products by applying a choice of compression, tension, extrusion, adhesion, bending or cutting tests to measure their physical or textural properties e.g. firmness, stickiness, crispiness and compressibility, to name but a few.

Texture analysis is integral during R&D and QC to ensure new products deliver the texture consumers expect:

• Compare “gold standard” traditional meat texture profiles to cultured alternatives
• Detect subtle differences in firmness, crispiness, stickiness, and chewiness
• Optimise formulations through iterative testing of mechanical and sensory properties

Versatile probes and attachments

• Kramer Shear Cell for tenderness (ideal for nuggets and strips)
• Spherical probes for flesh firmness measurement
• Warner-Bratzler Blades to simulate bite force
• Custom attachments tailored to your product type

Explore our range of Texture Analysers as well as over 200 probes and attachments designed to match your product needs.

Traditional farming will remain vital, but as demands rise and sustainability becomes critical, cellular agriculture offers a complementary, scalable solution – especially where intensive farming is limited.

With changing diets, supply chain challenges, and environmental pressures, cell cultured foods are poised for rapid growth. To succeed, companies must rigorously monitor product texture and quality from development through launch. Empower your cultured food innovations with precise, reliable texture measurement.

Learn more about common texture tests used in meat and fish production.