Almost everywhere more fish are caught today than is good for the stocks. Fish from the bioreactor could help in the future: A German research team has developed a method with which fish fingers, fish tartare and the like can be grown from fish cells in the laboratory. The scientists hope that this could help feed the world without the oceans having to be further overfished.
Around 90 percent of all fish stocks are already considered maximally fished or overfished. This not only endangers the marine ecosystems and food chains, but also the food bases of hundreds of millions of people. Because fish is an important source of protein. While numerous research institutions and companies are already working on meat substitutes from cell cultures in the case of meat, this possibility has been far less researched in the case of fish.
Grown from cells instead of fished
This gap has now been closed by a spin-off from the Fraunhofer Development Center for Marine and Cellular Biotechnology EMB. The Bluu Biosciences team specializes in the development and manufacture of cell-based fish. To do this, the scientists first take the desired fish cells as part of a biopsy – they punch a small piece of tissue out of a fish. The isolated cells are reprogrammed into a kind of stem cells in the laboratory and can therefore divide infinitely often. The cells are then multiplied in the bioreactor with a nutrient medium.
The researchers are currently concentrating on optimizing the media in order to ensure cost-effective production of the fish cells and to refine cell characteristics such as taste and texture. This is achieved, for example, by increasing the proportion of omega-3 fatty acids as an important flavor carrier. The scientists are also working on replacing the fetal calf serum (FCS) previously used in nutrient media with other, plant-based growth factors. “Our first prototype will be completely FCS-free,” explains Sebastian Rakers, founder and managing director of Bluu Biosciences.
As soon as these developments are completed, the production methods are to be scaled up to industrial scale. The first products planned are fish balls, fish fingers and fish tartare, which are still made up of a mix of cell components and vegetable proteins. Fish fillet will only be ready for the market at a later date. Further research is required here to build up the porous framework structures in such a way that sufficient nutrients and oxygen can reach the cells. “Only if this is guaranteed can the cells growing on the scaffold structure and develop as they would in natural fish tissue,” explains Rakers.
Benefits for the oceans and the environment
According to the research team, cell-based fish production offers numerous advantages. “There is no slaughtering of fish and ideally a biopsy is only required once,” says Rakers. This allows the fish stocks in the oceans to be conserved. In contrast to aquaculture, the marine environment is also relieved. Because this marine factory farming leads to a pollution and eutrophication of the seas through nutrient input, fish excrement and antibiotics. Fish products made from fish cells are free from genetic engineering, antibiotics and environmental toxins. Because the cell-based factories can be set up anywhere, the supply chains are also short – that saves CO2 emissions.
Cell-based fish produced with the help of modern biotechnology could thus make a contribution to the global security of supply for animal protein in the future. “We see a rapidly growing market here. The future belongs to products manufactured in a circular economy, ”says Rakers. The aim is to bring the products to the market in the first step through restaurants. Later on, supermarkets will also be supplied. Rakers cites the end of 2023 as a realistic date for the market launch.
Source: Fraunhofer Society