Cellular agriculture

Cellular agriculture is an interdisciplinary scientific field drawing from several disciplines such as synthetic biology, genetic engineering, molecular biology, tissue engineering, biochemistry and food science to design organisms capable of producing a wide variety of agricultural products. Cellular agricultures primary focus is designing organisms capable of building relevant proteins, fats, and other tissues for the production of animal products. For example, animal products made through cellular agriculture include: beef, poultry, fish, dairy, egg, collagen, and gelatin. There are two categories of cellular agricultural products: cellular and acellular. Cellular products are made from whole cells — living or dead — and include products like beef, poultry and fish. Acellular products are made from products that are made by cells and do not include any living or once living cells. Examples of acellular products include: omega-3 fatty acids, gellatingelatin, casein, and ovalbumin. Cellular agriculture is a technology that provides opportunities to improve upon trade-offs of traditional agricultural practices and methods for meat production such as animal welfare, environmental impact, and nutritional value.