From Muscle Fibers to Functional Foods: Bridging Conventional and Cultivated Approaches

This chapter explores the quality attributes of cultivated meat, drawing parallels and distinctions with conventional meat to support future product development. It examines key technical, sensory, and nutritional parameters, like texture, water-holding capacity, color, flavor, and nutritional composition. The chapter highlights how cultivated meat's quality is shaped by cellular composition, scaffold materials, and postharvest processes and how these factors influence consumer-relevant traits such as tenderness, juiciness, and taste. It also discusses the potential of cultivated meat to match or surpass conventional meat in nutritional value, including protein content, amino acid profile, and micronutrient composition. Contributions from five cultivated meat companies provide an industrial context.