Amidst the rhythmic sound of "printing", the printing nozzle filled with red and white "bio ink" moves back and forth, and the square shaped "pork" in the white tray gradually thickens and has an attractive color... Entering the National Key Laboratory of Meat Quality Control and New Resource Creation at Nanjing Agricultural University, researchers are conducting research on 3D bio printed cell culture meat. Zhou Guanghong, a distinguished professor and laboratory director at Nanjing Agricultural University, said that the 3D bioprinting technology for cell culture meat has matured, and personalized settings can be achieved for both shape and fat to lean ratio. Zhou Guanghong told Half Moon Talk reporters that "cell cultured meat" is an edible meat produced by cultivating animal cells in vitro and through biological manufacturing methods based on the growth pattern of meat in the animal body. "That is to say, meat can be eaten without the need for breeding or slaughtering, with controllable taste and flavor. It can also be artificially adjusted for protein and fat content, reducing saturated fatty acid content." Nanjing Zhouzi Future Food Technology Co., Ltd. is a cell culture meat startup founded by his students under the guidance of Zhou Guanghong. CEO Ding Shijie said that there are currently two technological routes for artificial meat: plant protein and cell culture. "Cell culture meat" refers to placing animal stem cells in a culture dish, relying on a scaffold and culture medium to continuously proliferate cells, and finally grow into "meat"; The process of making meat from plant protein involves extracting protein from plants such as soybeans and peas, and then seasoning them to give them the taste of animal meat. "Currently, most of the artificial meat available on the market is' plant-based meat '," Ding Shijie said. The cell culture meat industry has made significant progress internationally, and in 2023, the United States first approved the production and sales of products from two cell culture meat companies locally. There are also many companies and universities in China engaged in the research and development of cell culture meat, accelerating the industrialization. In 2009, Zhou Guanghong led a team to start research with the goal of "stem cell meat". In 2019, their team cultivated 5 grams of pork, marking the birth of China's first cell culture meat. In 2023, the pilot production of a 500 liter bioreactor for cell culture pig fat will be achieved, resulting in a final harvest of 5 kilograms of "cell culture meat", and the industrialization path will be basically completed. "Raising pigs and cows takes months or even years, while when cell cultured meat enters factory production, the production cycle only takes a few weeks." Kuang Yi, a staff member of Zhouzi Future R&D Center, said. According to data from the German research company Statista, it is expected that by 2040, 40% of the global meat product market will be conventional animal meat, 35% will be cell cultured meat, and 25% will be plant-based protein meat. "Roughly calculated, if cell cultured meat enters the mass production stage, it can significantly reduce energy consumption, reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 78% to 96%, reduce land use by 80% to 99%, and reduce water consumption by 82% to 96%." Zhou Guanghong said. Many consumers still have concerns about the safety of cell cultured meat. "Cell cultured meat is a supplement to farmed meat, and the safety standards will only be higher," said Ding Shijie. The company has developed technologies such as cell cultured fat small molecule compound residue detection methods, which are monitored throughout the production process. Moreover, cultivation in a closed bioreactor can prevent the spread of animal diseases and foodborne diseases. The future has arrived. Ding Shijie said that with the continuous optimization of technology and the expansion of industry scale, the production cost of cell culture meat will be further reduced. "The cost of the cell culture meat burger, which was first released overseas in 2013, reached 330000 US dollars. It has now dropped to several thousand yuan per kilogram and is expected to drop to within a thousand yuan soon. It is expected to further decrease, helping to stabilize the production and supply of meat products." (Xinhua News Agency)