Mission Burns bets that animal-free pork fat will make artificial meat delicious

My old colleague always had a curious lofcicious request at lunchtime. For health reasons, he was a vegetarian, but he still missed the taste of ground beef. There he asked the cafeteria chef for a vegetable burger cooked next to a beef pate. The permeated grease tasted much better as a plant alternative.

People at Mission Barns must have overheard the lunch conversation. They developed animal-free cultured pork fat. The product has just been approved by the US Department of Agriculture, the company told TechCrunch only. The stamp of approval allows startups to sell fat to consumers.

It is the first product to reach the market and can unlock many fat meat alternatives.

“Any partner who uses our ingredients can make their products available to market,” said Cecilia Chang, Chief Business Officer at Mission Barns.

Scientists have been trying to cultivate meat for years. The world’s first lab-grown burger crashed into the mouths of food critics in 2013, but cost an estimated $330,000. Although costs have dropped significantly since then, burgers made from laboratory-grown beef cost several times more than McDonald’s classics. Part of the problem is that most cells cultured today grow in large VAT of liquid medium, whereas muscle cells need something to grow.

However, fat is so noisy that it is easier to grow at a cost that consumers can swallow. And when it comes to flavor, it packs a punch.

To grow fat, Mission Burns first takes small samples from live pigs, such as biopsies. It is then introduced into a bioreactor containing the growth medium. Because of the floating fat, startups had to develop their own bioreactors so that the cells were evenly distributed throughout the medium. If they are gathered at the top, they don’t have enough access to food to grow properly.

Mission Barns’ first product is a sausage alternative made using bacon, meatballs and PEA protein combined with cultured pork fat. Also, startups provide fat to other companies and are incorporated into their own recipes. In the long run, Chang said its main business will be selling to other food manufacturers.

Pea protein is a common ingredient among meat substitutes, but Chan said Mission Burns recipes are different. “Fat gives you so much flavor, you’re actually taking out some of the most expensive ingredients in artificial flavors, which are alternative protein products,” she said.

Chang also said that perhaps Mission Burns’ cultured pork fat should allow for a healthier meat replacement. The recipe doesn’t require much salt to hide the protein flavor of the peas. The company can adjust what cells eat, increasing omega-3 fat, for example.

For future products, Mission Burns is aged with stronger flavored pork fat. “You can get away by adding fat, and it has a nutritional profile of salmon fat,” Chan said. “When we talk to our partners, they’re like, ‘Oh, yeah, sign up for me.’ ”