Scaffolding Strategies in Mimicking Muscle and Fat Tissue: Focus on the Current Primary Challenge in Cultured Meat

Cultivated meat is intended to solve the current sustainability and environmental issues related to conventional animal farming by combining biomanufacturing, materials science, and food engineering. Both scaffolds and microcarriers could support cell adherence and proliferation, while more intricate scaffolds act as frameworks for cell maturation by promoting directional alignment into desired tissue and shaping its structure. However, the current primary challenges still reside in the selection of scaffolding materials that should conform to related safety requirements and accurately replicate natural meat. To address these challenges, this study systematically reviewed different fabricating strategies based on edible scaffold materials. Scaffolds featuring tailored shapes, structural integrity, and reinforced aligned structures to facilitate cell differentiation into tissues closely resembling muscle and fat in texture, flavor, and nutritional value were emphasized. This review provides a comprehensive overview of current scaffolding methods culturing muscle and adipocyte cells designed to achieve highly textural resemblance.