The Novo Nordisk Foundation is working with universities on using yeast and algae as substitutes.
ADanish health and sustainability foundation is supporting a research project to reduce the cost of producing cell-based food.
The Novo Nordisk Foundation, which holds a controlling interest in pharmaceutical firm Novo Nordisk and bio-technology company Novozymes, is investing DKr17.6m (US$2.5m) in the project – Sustainable Production of Cultured Meat and Milk, dubbed SusCellFood.
Research into using yeast and algae as an alternative to the expensive fetal bovine serum employed in the manufacture of cell-based food is being led by Aarhus University in Denmark through its department of food science.
“The purpose is to develop a less expensive and more ethically sound way to produce cell-based meat and milk,” according to a statement from the Hellerup-based Novo Nordisk Foundation, which added fetal bovine serum “creates both ethical and climate-related problems that require scientific solutions”.
With the investment backing, “researchers will develop technologies that use nutrients from yeast and algae in combination with growth factors to replace the fetal bovine serum”, the Foundation explained. “This will provide a less expensive and more climate-friendly culturing method that is also ethically sound.”
Lasting four years, the SusCellFood project will also involve the Technical University of Denmark in Lyngby, as well as “several researchers located outside Denmark who are experts in cultured-food production”.
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