Compositions and methods of making comestible cell-based meat fillets
Provided herein are methods of making a comestible cell-based meat composition where the method includes cooling the cell mass from a growth temperature to a temperature below a growth temperature; harvesting at least a portion of the cell mass; de-wetting the harvested cell mass with mechanically-generated pressure; forming the cell-based meat composition into a fillet; and optionally processing the fillet under high pressure, until the comestible cell-based meat composition satisfies a texture profile criteria.
1 . A method of making a comestible cell-based meat fillet, comprising:
(a) culturing a cell mass in cell culture media;
(b) cooling the cell mass from a growth temperature to a temperature below a growth temperature;
(c) harvesting at least a portion of the cell mass;
(d) de-wetting the harvested cell mass with mechanically-generated pressure; and
(e) forming the harvested cell mass into a fillet.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the method produces a fillet comprising a texture profile criteria.
3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the temperature below the growth temperature is a refrigeration temperature.
4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the cell mass is grown in suspension culture.
5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein culturing the cell mass is done in a cultivator within an enclosed environment.
6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein cooling comprises contacting the cell mass with at least one cooling solution.
7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein cooling comprises modulating the temperature of the enclosed environment to a temperature between about 1° C. and about 7° C.
8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the cell mass has an internal temperature between about 1° C. and about 7° C. prior to harvesting.
9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein harvesting comprises using mechanical harvesting, pressurized fluid, or a combination thereof.
10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the harvested cell mass is maintained at a temperature between about 1° C. and about 7° C. during the de-wetting step, during the forming step, or during both steps.
11 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising washing the harvested cell mass.
12 . The method of claim 1 , wherein a mechanical press is used to generate the mechanically-generated pressure, wherein the mechanically-generated pressure is applied until the comestible cell-based meat product satisfies a texture profile criteria.
13 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising inserting the harvested cell mass into a vacuum apparatus and at least partially drying the cells using the vacuum apparatus.
14 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the forming step comprises adding a binding agent.
15 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the forming step comprises size reducing the harvested cell mass, wherein size reducing the cell mass comprises cutting the cell mass into pieces having a threshold length.
16 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the forming step comprises pulverizing the harvested cell mass, wherein pulverizing comprises finely chopping the cell mass into pieces having a threshold length.
17 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the forming step comprises folding the cell mass until the comestible cell-based meat product satisfies a texture profile criteria.
18 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the forming step comprises vacuum packing.
19 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the texture profile criteria comprises one or more texture profile criteria selected from: a chewiness score, a springiness score, a hardness, a resilience score, a cohesiveness score, a gumminess score, or a binding score, wherein the one or more texture profile criteria of the texture profile criteria meet a predetermined threshold set for each criterion.