A Big Breakthrough Just Brought Us Closer To Real Lab-Grown Bacon

Market-ready lab-cultivated pork is one step closer to becoming a reality thanks to researchers at the University of Edinburgh’s Roslin Institute. They’ve developed stable pig fat cells, laying the groundwork for mass-producing cultivated meat.

Researchers have named the new cell line “FaTTy.” Unlike previous animal stem cells that lose their regenerative ability over time, FaTTY produces fat tissue continually—without genetic modification.  

In an interview with Food Bev, Tom Thrower, lead researcher on the project, said, “We didn’t simply develop a tool, we made a very special discovery. The fact that these cells not only grow indefinitely but also retain their ability to become fat at such high efficiency is something we have never seen before in livestock stem cells. It opens the door to new possibilities in cultivated meat and beyond.”

Lab-cultivated meat has the potential to be a sustainable alternative to traditional animal-based fat. It doesn’t require livestock or farmland and is more ethical and environmentally friendly. To further the advancement of lab-cultivated animal fat for consumer consumption, the Roslin Institute has begun sharing the FaTTY cell production line with other researchers and industry partners.