The term “cellular agriculture” is used by many stakeholders and it indicates the production method that can be used to make acellular or cellular products, where acellular products are made of organic molecules like proteins and fats and contain no cellular or living material in the final product, while cellular products are made of living or once-living cells. For example, acellular animal-sourced foods (like milk proteins or gelatine) are produced without animals through fermentation using microorganisms like yeast or bacteria (often referred to as precision fermentation). In contrast, cellular products are formed by growing cells from a particular animal species and tissue type in vitro, followed by assembly of cells on a scaffold to form tissue-like structures and further processing into products (Rischer et al., 2020). The use of the term is also documented in various sources (CAIC, 2021). However, it should also be noted that for the scientific community, the term “cellular agriculture” encompasses not only the production of cell-based food but also the utilization of cell cultures of a whole variety of host organisms (animals, plants, microorganisms) for the production of agricultural food products rather than production from farmed animals or crops (Mattick, 2018; Rischer et al., 2020).

FAO & WHO. 2023. Food safety aspects of cell-based food. Rome.

Source category: International Organization