Cultivated meat
Highlights:
- New patent applications related to cultivated meat may have peaked in 2022, after a period of dramatic growth.
- New patent filings originating from the US dropped dramatically between 2022-2023, likely due to a divided regulatory landscape causing legal complexity and uncertainty.
- Japanese patent filings increased in 2023, after significant investment by the government to support research and product development.
- Meatable BV, based in the Netherlands, was the single biggest filer in 2023, and have secured large investments which may help strengthen their position in the market.
- Innovation in cultivated meat generally is focussed on creating products that offer a similar experience to eating livestock-produced meat.
According to trade group The Good Food Institute, global investment in cultivated meat and seafood companies fell from USD 922.3m in 2022 to USD 225.9m in 2023.
Cultivated meat is a technology that has the potential to revolutionise meat production by reducing traditional agriculture’s dependence on land and water resources, by optimising nutritional profiles, removing the need for antibiotics, and reducing the production of non-consumable waste products. However, regulation and consumer uptake remain key challenges for innovators, alongside up-scaling and production efficiency. Strong funding support is needed for the sector as it builds the technology needed to realise this potential.
Global trend
Globally, since 2019 the number of new patent filings directed to technologies associated with cultivated meats has risen rapidly. However, the combined impact of COVID-19 and the subsequent economic downturn appears to have stalled this rise. Looking at the number of new filings since 2020, the signs are that filings in this sector may have peaked for now in 2022.
Figure 1: ten-year trend (2013-2023) - global priority filings – cultivated meat innovations
Like many industries, the cultivated meat industry has faced investment challenges in recent years. According to trade group The Good Food Institute, global investment in cultivated meat and seafood companies fell from USD 922.3m in 2022 to USD 225.9m in 2023. This is will have been a strong influence on the number of new patents filed in this sector.
Regional trends
From a regional perspective, patent applicants from the US, Europe, South Korea, and Japan remain top filers in this field.
Figure 2: ten-year trend (2013-2023) - global priority filings, by jurisdiction – cultivated meat innovations
It appears that the drop in new global patent filings in 2023, seen in Figure 1, can be linked to a dramatic drop in the total number of patent filings from applicants in the US. While the US remains one of the top patent filers within cultivated meat technology, for the first time since the initial increase in 2019, there was a notable decline in the number of patent filings related to this technology from US applicants in 2023.
Regarding the production and commercialisation of cultivated meats, the US currently has a divided regulatory landscape, with significant variations in regulations in different states. This results in legal complexity and uncertainty, which may cause hesitancy among investors in this field.
In early 2019, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) issued an agreement which clarified the role of each agency in the regulation of cultivated meat products; the initial stages of production, including cell collection, cell line development, and cell growth and differentiation to be overseen by the FDA and harvesting, processing, packaging, labelling, and distribution to be overseen by the USDA. This alignment of the publication of this agreement with the increase in patent filings between 2019-2020 suggests this regulatory clarification instilled some confidence in this technology.
Subsequently, the federal government approved cultivated chicken (from Upside Foods) and salmon (from Good Meat) for production, sale, and consumption in the US, with safety clearances being issued in 2022 and 2023, respectively. However, local governments in the US have started to introduce state-wide bans or enforce strict labelling of products containing cultivated meat. Notably, between 2024-2025, Florida, Alabama, Montana and Mississippi imposed bans on such products, and Iowa, South Dakota and Utah imposed strict labelling regulations. This has sparked concerns over the future of cultivated meat-based products in the US market. The political push-back from these states not only affects consumer perception but also influences venture capital flow, with some investors pivoting toward more regulatory-stable sectors. However, there is not a consensus across the whole of the US - some states such as California, New York, and Illinois, have not passed such bans and are not actively blocking sales of cultivated meat products.
There has also been a slight decline in the number of new patent filings from Europe-based applicants in 2023, compared to the previous year. Similar to the US, a split between pro- and anti- cultivated meat regulations has started to form across Europe, which could again be partly responsible for the decline in European innovation. However, there are some positive signs for the development of this technology in Europe:
- The UK has approved cultivated meat use in pet food products (produced and sold by Meatly) in 2024
- In July 2023, Meatable (alongside Mosa Meat) collaborated with the Dutch government to establish a 'code of practice' allowing pre-approval tastings by the public of cultivated meat and seafood; this initiative made the Netherlands the first EU country to permit such tastings, facilitating consumer feedback and product optimisation
- In Switzerland, Aleph Farms partnered with Migros to submit the first EU‑regional regulatory dossier for cultivated beef in 2023; the outcome of the submission has not yet been released
However, there is also growing concern as to how cultivated meat technology will affect traditional farming practices, with some European communities staging protests calling for the ban of cultivated meats. As a result, Italy made moves to try and ban the production, sale, and import of cultivated meat in late 2023, and France has proposed similar bans. Interestingly, in contrast to the opinions voiced in Italy and France, researchers from the Royal Agricultural University (RAU) found that British farmers do not consider alternative meat products to be a major or immediate threat to their industry.
In contrast, Japan has seen a large increase in new patent filings in 2023 compared to previous years, as the government tries to position itself as one of the global leaders in cellular agriculture innovation with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida publicly endorsing the sector as a priority for national food security and sustainability, in 2023. This was reinforced by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF), which published a detailed industry roadmap the same year, outlining safety, labelling, and commercialisation goals for cultivated meats. Financially, the Japanese government has backed the sector through public R&D funding, including a major grant from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) (through the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO)) for a collaborative cultivated Wagyu beef project, led by Fujimori Kogyo, TOPPAN Holdings, and Shimadzu Corporation working alongside a number of academic institutions. Additionally, MAFF’s innovation fund awarded over USD 27m to startups, directly funding product development and commercialisation.
South Korea is also accelerating its cultivated meat development and commercialisation, having established a ‘regulatory-free special zone’ in Gyeongsangbuk-do province, which will operate until the end of 2028. This zone will house ten companies that will benefit from R&D funding, tax incentives, and a more flexible regulatory environment to support innovation in areas such as scaffolding, 3D printing, and texture design in cultivated meat products. New patent filings related to cultivated meat technology from South Korean applicants increased in 2023 compared to 2022, after falling from 2021 to 2022.
In 2023, five cell-based meat companies (Upside Foods, Believer Meats, Wildtype, Aleph Farms, and Mosa Meat) accounted for 46.9 percent of all investment funds raised.
Technology areas
As expected, a large majority of the global patent filings relating to cultivated meat technology are within the chemical sector, with a large proportion being directed to biotechnology and food chemistry.
Figure 3: five-year trend (2019-2023) – global family filings by sector – cultivated meat innovations
Figure 4: five-year trend (2019-2023) – global family filings by field – cultivated meat innovations
The cultivated meat technologies disclosed in the new 2023 patent filings include:
- Apparatus and methods which aim to reduce production costs and increase production efficiency
- Culture media comprising additional nutritional components and ingredients to increase production efficiency and reduce costs
- Compositions and methods which aim to improve texture, flavour, smell and nutritional value, for example by preparing improved fibre structures and incorporating fats into cells
- Genetically modified cells and cell lines.
Notable companies
The number of unique patent applicants (i.e. the number of entities that have filed at least one new patent application in the given year, also referred to as unique assignees, where ‘assignee’ means the owner of a patent/application) increased year-on-year between 2017-2022. However, we have seen a slight decrease in this figure in 2023 compared to the previous year.
As previously discussed, the global economic downturn is proving to be a major challenge for cultivated meat innovators, with global investment falling by USD 696.4m between 2022-2023. In 2023, five cell-based meat companies (Upside Foods, Believer Meats, Wildtype, Aleph Farms, and Mosa Meat) accounted for 46.9 percent of all investment funds raised. This could account for the decline we have seen in the number of new ventures filing patent applications within this field of technology.
Figure 5: ten-year trend (2013-2022) - unique assignees by year – cultivated meat innovations
Dutch company Meatable BV was the top filer of new patent applications, in 2023. Their applications relate to methods of culturing and maturing cells and increasing fat accumulation to tune flavour. In 2023, Meatable secured EUR 30m in funding and has since been awarded EUR 7.6m under the Netherlands Enterprise Agency's Innovation Credit program.
Figure 6: five-year overview (2019-2023) - global top filers – cultivated meat
Hanwha Solutions Corporation (HSC), a South Korean-based conglomerate that has invested in DaNAgreen, Finless Foods, and New Age Meats, was the second-highest filer in 2023, with patent applications directed to cell culture medium and improving cultivated meat texture and taste. HSC are relatively new to the world of cultured meats, but have invested in companies that have ample experience in this technology area.
Ivy Farm Technologies, Upside Foods, Korea Food Research Institute, and Ajinomoto Co. Inc. are also prominent patent filers within this sector.
The Oxford University spin-out, Ivy Farm Technologies have filed patent applications relating to genetically modified and manipulated cells, bioreactors for culturing the cells, cell culture methods, substrate assemblies for culturing cells and artificial meat products. Ivy Farm has partnered with a Finnish biotech firm Synbio Powerlabs Oy, to position itself to scale production using the world's largest dedicated alternative-protein facility. Ivy Farm is also a leader in product sampling, hosting the first cultivated beef tasting in the Nordic region at Iceland Innovation Week 2024, where they showcased their cultivated Angus beef alongside ORF Genetics.
As previously mentioned, Upside Foods, based in California, gained the first regulatory approval for any cultivated meat product in the US in 2022 for cultivated chicken. The company’s focus is now on scalability and commercialisation and has applications relating to pipe-based bioreactors for producing comestible meat products and for a suspension-based chicken product formulation. Its scalable technology is known as “suspension”, and Upside Foods regularly operates at the 2000-litre scale with this process.
Korea Food Research Institute is a government-funded research institute, and its applications focus on reducing use of fetal bovine serum (FBS), in favour of using various medium additives, for culturing meat. Reducing the use of FBS in culture media is desirable due to cost and ethical issues.
Ajinomoto Co. Inc. is a Japanese food and biotechnology firm with applications relating to an animal cell culturing method conducted with a pea-derived material and/or yeast extract and methods for producing cultured meat.
Implications for innovation and future patent filings
The cultivated meat industry is currently focused on developing an affordable and sustainable product by supporting innovation in high-volume production methods, faster manufacturing processes, and improved efficiency in cell cultivation.
Global patent activity in the sector seems to evidence a strong push to innovate to appeal to consumers, by creating products that closely resemble conventional meat in flavour, texture, and cooking behaviour. We are also seeing companies prioritising flavour and nutritional value.
However, a significant hurdle for this sector is securing investment and navigating local regulatory environments, which in some geographies (and key markets) are uncertain and polarising. Despite these issues, patent filings are increasing, and may continue to increase, in countries where this technology has government support.
Emily Bevan-Smith Patent Attorney
James Myatt
Partner and Patent Attorney