Meatable, a leader in cultivated meat technology, has started a collaboration effort with Pelagen, a pioneering company focused on developing animal-free leather. This collaboration enables Pelagen to explore the use of the award-winning opti-ox™ technology to enhance its production of skin tissue from animal cells, improving efficiency and scalability in sustainable leather manufacturing across a range of industries.
“Just as Meatable is revolutionising the way we produce and consume meat, Pelagen is redefining leather manufacturing with a sustainable approach. We’re excited to support their vision and market potential through our technology,” said Meatable CEO Jeff Tripician.
Opti-ox technology
The collaboration is built upon the Opti-ox technology Meatable uses to produce its cultivated pork sausages. Pelagen will leverage the platform to improve the production of skin tissue from animal cells for its sustainable leather. Opti-ox does away with the need for fetal bovine serum and allows Meatable to make products by isolating a single animal cell. The process uses pluripotent stem cells (PSCs), which – unlike immortalised cell lines that need to be altered to multiply indefinitely – have the natural ability to continue multiplying, and do so rapidly.
This is coupled with a perfusion process that allows the startup to work in a continuous cycle to generate very high cell densities and produce fully differentiated muscle and fat cells faster than any competitor. The technology can do in 12 days what it takes a pig eight months to, and a cow two to three years – and was named one of Time Magazine’s Best Inventions of 2024.
Lowering greenhouse gas emissions
Unlike traditional synthetic leather, which mainly uses petroleum-derived plastic and can take up to 500 years to break down, a cell-based version dramatically lowers greenhouse gas emissions and waste. Cultivated leather also avoids the shedding of microplastics that can destroy marine life and our waterways, while replicating the look, feel and smell of its conventional counterpart.
To get cultivated leather to market, producers require optimised media and processes too. To that end, Pelagen and Meatable will also endeavour to generate the most effective media composition and process. This will help them lower costs, enhance speed and efficiency, and increase the quality of the animal-free leather.
The agreement marks a milestone for Meatable as it expands its impact beyond the food industry, reinforcing its commitment to a sustainable future through strategic partnerships.
Jeff Tripician, CEO of Meatable, commented: “We are proud to partner with Pelagen, a company committed to making a significant environmental and ethical impact. Just as Meatable is revolutionizing the way we produce and consume meat, Pelagen is redefining leather manufacturing with a sustainable approach. We’re excited to support their vision and market potential through our technology.”
Bron: Meatable