An industrial-scale printer with a temperature-controlled print bed was developed by Steakholder Foods Ltd. (Nasdaq: STKH; formerly MeaTech 3D: MITC), a leading global deep-tech food company.
This represents a significant advancement for the business’s plan to utilize 3D printing technology to produce cultivated meat in large quantities.
Steakholder Foods CEO Arik Kaufman says,
“We are pleased to have achieved this significant milestone with our technology.
It is a crucial step toward achieving scaled production of structured cultivated meat.
Many food technology companies are currently struggling with the challenges of cost-effectively scaling their production capabilities,
both in terms of material manufacturing (cellular cultures) and manufacturing processes,
after an initial boom that stoked investor enthusiasm (bioprinting).
The bio-ink used in Steakholder Food technology is created using specially chosen cell lines and distinctive scaffolding materials.
The bio-ink is then put into a 3D printer, which prints an entire cut of meat with exact precision based on a digital design in just a few minutes.
For the printed product to form muscle fibres with the ideal density,
thickness,
and length to become a cut of meat that can be cooked to perfection,
it must be incubated for several weeks.
When printing a cultivated product containing live cells, temperature control is a crucial requirement.
The design of temperature-controlled print beds is a significant step toward mass production because maintaining optimal temperature is difficult with the architecture of Steakholder Foods’ industrial printers.
The print bed receives contactless electromagnetic power that is transmitted through a wireless communication module that also regulates and monitors the print bed’s temperature.
