Cleaning Up Clean Meat: How Future Fields Is Replacing Fetal Bovine Serum
As clean meat startups continue to pop up and grow in mainstream awareness, many are continuing to use FBS (Fetal Bovine Serum) as the growth media for their products. The serum is controversial, due to the circumstances in which it is harvested from the blood of fetuses of slaughtered pregnant cows, and taints the idea of “clean” meat.
Future Fields is a startup working to produce a clean and affordable alternative to FBS, and wants to share it with the entire cellular agriculture industry. By focusing on the growth media, the company hopes to accelerate the growth and innovation of all clean meat startups. We spoke with Future Fields Co-Founder & Product Lead, Lejjy Gafour, to learn more about the company’s work and its plans for the future.
Why did you found Future Fields? Why are you personally passionate about the project?
We started Future Fields because we must do more than hope. I grew up on a farm myself, I have been through the pattern of growing food, and it was still not enough at the time to do anything more than keep us alive. I suffered from what usually is politely called “food insecurity” and this was still even in a wealthy, first world country. It is often easy to forget that there are many more people who are nowhere near actually having food security, be it here in North America or overseas. There are of course many reasons for this, as food is a complex system. However as we move forward into the future with the challenges we face now with the inevitable effects of climate change and the lack of advancement in many areas of our food system, we must strive to change how we create our food.
Can you tell us a bit about the processes and technology Future Fields is using to create cell-based meat?
We are now playing the role of technology enabler by making available growth medias for up to 99% reduced cost compared to standard commercial options. Our secret sauce is in the technology we developed that can fully replace the need for standard FBS (Fetal Bovine Serum) and other classic media formulations. We did originally start as a “full-stack” cultured meat company successfully producing chicken multiple times using a cell-based process. While we were successful in prototype development, we made the decision to try and accelerate the entire industry by removing the cost to scale from the perspective of growth media.
In a lifecycle analysis, how do the resource consumption and greenhouse gas emissions from your products compare to traditional meat? Could you share some numbers with us?
We are currently finalizing that!
How much does your clean meat cost in comparison with traditional meat? How are you working to bring the cost down?
When we first started 3 years ago, our original prototypes were $4500 per pound (CAD). With our growth media product we are able to achieve a ~70X reduction or more in that final cost depending on the design of the rest of the system. For our customers and future customers using our growth media to produce their own foods, it is on a case by case basis.
Do you believe that there is tech that still needs to be invented to improve the process and cost of clean meat?
Like every new industry, I do believe we will see multiple new innovations that come out of the cellular agriculture space that will be used in more than just cultured meat production. Every step in the production chain is a possible opportunity to create a new innovation. This applies all the way from cell lines to bioreactors and final processing.
What are your target markets?
Our target market is every cellular agriculture company on the planet that uses a growth media as part of their production process.
How did you source your funding as a startup? Which VCs or companies have invested in Future Fields and how were you approached by them (or vice versa)?
We actually bootstrapped our company until earlier this year. We were fortunate enough to join up with https://www.gogrow.co/ and the amazing team backing the GROW crew. We are actually currently raising our seed round.
What are some of the biggest obstacles facing clean meat today? Where do you see it in five years?
It is a challenge of costs to scale still, but that type of challenge is something that will be solved over time. Cellular Agriculture is not unique when it comes to the social and technology lifecycle of new systems and ideas that present a challenge and opportunity for people. There is a period of hype cycles, of anxiety, of hope, and of eventual success. While we talk a lot about cost, it is important we do not lose sight of the required social and policy shifts that we will have to address as an industry if we are to achieve our vision of what these technologies can achieve. Honestly? In five years I think the industry will be just beginning to really show what it is capable of, even with the innovations we see today.
Related Articles on CleanTechnica:
Clean Meat Startup Biftek.co Wants To Ditch Fetal Calf Serum For Good
Lab-Grown Meat In Supermarkets Is Closer Than You Think, Thanks To Growth Medium Breakthrough
Mosa Meat: From €250,000 To €9 Burger Patties
China Wants Seafood, & Avant Meats Is Offering A Cell-Based Alternative
Why Grow Shrimp? An Interview With The Founders Of Shiok Meats
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