
Coffee cell cultures (right) and roasted coffee produced by VTT’s cellular agriculture method
VTT has successfully produced coffee cells in a bioreactor through cellular agriculture. The innovation can help to make the production of coffee more sustainable. The first batches produced by VTT in a laboratory in Finland smell and taste like conventional coffee.
With increasing demand and numerous sustainability challenges concerning traditional coffee agriculture, there is a pressing need for alternative ways of producing coffee. Due to the high demand of coffee, more acreage is required to produce enough coffee beans, leading to deforestation – particularly in sensitive rainforest areas.
VTT is developing coffee production through plant cells in its laboratory in Finland. In the process, cell cultures floating in bioreactors filled with nutrient medium are used to produce various animal- and plant-based products.
“At VTT, this project has been part of our overall endeavor to develop the biotechnological production of daily and familiar commodities that are conventionally produced by agriculture. For this, we use many different hosts, such as microbes, but also plant cells,” says Research Team Leader, Dr Heiko Rischer from VTT.
The work was started by initiating coffee cell cultures, establishing respective cell lines in the laboratory and transferring them to bioreactors to begin producing biomass. After analyses of the biomass, a roasting process was developed, and the new coffee was finally evaluated by VTT’s trained sensory panel.
The whole procedure required input from several disciplines and experts in the fields of plant biotechnology, chemistry, and food science.
“In terms of smell and taste, our trained sensory panel and analytical examination found the profile of the brew to bear similarity to ordinary coffee. However, coffee making is an art and involves iterative optimization under the supervision of specialists with dedicated equipment. Our work marks the basis for such work,” says Rischer.
Currently all coffee material produced in laboratory conditions represents experimental food and would require regulatory approval by the FDA to be marketed and sold to consumers in the United States. In Europe, the lab-grown coffee should first be approved as Novel Food before being marketed.
Technically the production process is based on existing and established technology such as conventional bioreactor operation. In fact, the idea that coffee cells could be used to make coffee was already presented in the 1970s by P.M. Townsley.
“The experience of drinking the very first cup was exciting. I estimate we are only four years away from ramping up production and having regulatory approval in place. Growing plant cells requires specific expertise when it is time to scale and optimize the process. Downstream processing and product formulation together with regulatory approval and market introduction are additional steps on the way to a commercial product. That said, we have now proved that lab-grown coffee can be a reality” says Rischer.
The project links to VTT’s strategic research targets to solve the world’s biggest challenges. Cellular agriculture is one of the routes towards more sustainable food production.
“The true impact of this scientific work will happen through companies who are willing to re-think food ingredient production and start driving commercial applications. VTT collaborates and supports large enterprises and small companies in adopting opportunities in their product development. Ultimately, all efforts should result in more sustainable and healthy food for the benefit of the consumer and the planet,” concludes Rischer.
Original Article: Sustainable coffee grown in Finland – the land that drinks the most coffee per capita produces its first tasty cup with cellular agriculture
More from: VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland
The Latest on: Cellular agriculture
- Cultured Meat, Without the Slaughter, Is Slated to Get a Big Booston May 27, 2022 at 2:04 pm
The company Good Meat has announced it's planning to build the world's largest cultivated meat facility in the US. But can it succeed?
- CULT Food Science Secures Space for the Development of an Incubation Studio in Ontarioon May 26, 2022 at 4:59 am
The Company is focused on building a strong cellular agriculture ecosystem and creating an improved foundation for start-ups and their new technologies in the industry. The Office is envisioned to ...
- Cellular IoT Market Scope, Demand, Analysis, Type, Size and Forecast 2017 to 2025on May 25, 2022 at 1:37 am
Snapshot As more and more devices are getting connected together, the internet of things (IoT) architecture is expanding. In the ...
- Meet the new meat: Kaplan Lab cell agriculture research propelled by USDA fundingon May 21, 2022 at 9:01 pm
Faint bubbles twist their way to the top of an inconspicuous green container about the size of a hand. Among the miscellaneous bottles and boxes on the countertop, you wouldn’t give the box — called ...
- CB Therapeutics granted a new patent that will help further provide eco-conscious avenues for psychedelic researchon May 19, 2022 at 10:34 am
CB Therapeutics (the “Company”), a biotechnology and precision fermentation company focused on using cellular agriculture to produce environmentally-friendly products for human health, has been ...
- “Pathways” Version 2 Launched to Drive More Talent into Cellular Agriculture in Australiaon May 18, 2022 at 6:26 am
Cellular Agriculture Australia has updated its interactive Pathways tool to drive and guide more talent into cellular agriculture research. The update ...
- Feature: Israeli firm resorts to cellular agriculture to produce milk in labson May 16, 2022 at 9:16 am
Beginning her career at a lab in the Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, she eventually decided to devote herself to cellular agriculture. "It's obvious ...
- CULT Food Science hails cellular agriculture as ‘viable solution’ to help combat global food insecurityon May 12, 2022 at 5:54 am
“The history of agriculture is marked by fundamental shifts in technology, and cellular agriculture is the next one,” said CULT CEO Lejjy Gafour The cellular agriculture industry has grown ...
- CULT Food Science hails cellular agriculture as ‘viable solution’ to help combat global food insecurityon May 12, 2022 at 4:28 am
“The history of agriculture is marked by fundamental shifts in technology, and cellular agriculture is the next one,” said CULT CEO Lejjy Gafour The cellular agriculture industry has grown rapidly in ...
- CULT Food Science Generating Cellular Agriculture IP to Help Combat Global Food Insecurityon May 12, 2022 at 4:06 am
The Company is supporting these advances by investing in the development of its own intellectual property and patent portfolios, as well as via cellular agriculture companies around the world that are ...
via Bing News
The Latest on: Cellular agriculture
via Google News
Add Comment