Development of Bioinspired Scaffolds for Producing Cultured Meat Embodying the Organoleptic Properties of Conventional Meat

Cultured meat has been gaining attention as a new type of food that can provide animal-derived nutrients in a sustainable way. Recently, edible scaffolds have been studied to develop muscle tissues in vitro for mimicking the biological and physical properties of conventional meat. Organoleptic characteristics are critical in cultured meat, but they are relatively under-explored. Here, we suggest strategies of fabricating bioinspired scaffolds which provide meat-like organoleptic properties such as texture, flavor, and taste in cultured meat. By engineering the structure of scaffold as well as the interactions of polymers constituting the scaffold, we developed various types of scaffolds to mimic the organoleptic characteristics of conventional meat in cultured meat system. Specifically, edible coating, bulk gelatin hydrogel, and hydrogel releasing flavor molecules were studied.<br/> Edible coating for inducing cell adhesion was fabricated on the surface of soy protein meat to produce hybrid-type of cultured meat. The soy protein meat was dipped into the hydrogel composed of gelatin and agar. Because gelatin can specifically interact with cell, the coating can induce stable cellular adhesion and proliferation on the surface of soy protein meat. Also, gelatin can interact with agar at high temperature to produce Maillard reaction products which also occur in conventional meat cooking. Due to this coating, the cultured meat expressed meaty flavor and taste after cooking. This hydrogel-type coating can be introduced on the surface of any type of edible substrate to produce flavor-enriched hybrid type of cultured meat.<br/> Bulk hydrogel composed of gelatin and alginate was developed to investigate the relationship between cellular behavior and organoleptic properties of cultured meat. By regulating the interaction between alginate and calcium ions, hydrogel scaffolds with different stiffness were fabricated. Since cellular differentiation depends greatly on the mechanical properties of scaffold, we cultured muscle and fat cells on the scaffolds with different stiffness to diversify the degree of differentiation. Then, the texture and flavor of cell-scaffold complex were investigated for each specimen. Interestingly, it was confirmed that cultured meat with higher cell differentiation embodies more similiar sensorial properties with conventional meat because of the high quantity of muscle proteins and fatty acids. As a result, we could conclude that the material engineering for regulating cell differentiation has significant impact in cultured meat development.<br/> Lastly, we studied a three-dimensional scaffold which can release flavor molecules under cooking temperature to mimic the grilling flavors of conventional meat in cultured meat system. By conjugating Maillard flavor molecule into the gelatin-based hydrogel, the flavor-enriching scaffold can be produced. The disulfide bond between the flavor molecule and the polymer backbone can change temperature responsively, releasing the molecule from the scaffold. We confirmed that this flavor releasing scaffold can provide meaty and savory flavors in cultured meat.<br/> Combining materials engineering and food science, we have developed a variety of innovative strategies to produce the scaffolds which not only function to provide an environment for cell proliferation and differentiation, but also mimic the organoleptic properties of conventional meat. We believe that these bioinspired scaffolds can contribute to the sustainable food system by reducing the gap between the cultured meat and the conventional meat.