US-based cultivated meat company Omeat has unveiled a whitepaper on its foetal bovine serum (FBS) replacement, Plenty.

The paper details Plenty’s performance across a range of cell types, as reported by third-party users. Plenty is a nutrient-rich replacement for FBS, containing many growth factors and cytokines that are vital in organ regeneration and cell growth and differentiation.

Plenty is significantly less expensive than FBS as the process generates enriched plasma from cows through plasma collections. This process is more efficient and humane than the FBS collection process, which involves the slaughter of pregnant cows and their foetuses.

Omeat's process adheres to the highest animal welfare standards – its cows graze freely on a large pasture. It also utilises cows that are pre-selected to be free of zoonotic diseases.

The white paper includes results from extensive independent studies conducted by research universities worldwide. Their findings demonstrate that Plenty's performance is comparable to or surpasses FBS in supporting cell growth in 15 cell lines, validating Plenty's efficacy and reliability as a cell culture supplement.

The institutions that conducted evaluations of Plenty include Stanford University, Boston University, Emory University, Syracuse University, Johns Hopkins University, UCLA, Virginia Tech, Northeastern University and Universitätsklinikum Erlangen.

Plenty has a diverse array of industry and research applications beyond cell-based meat, such as drug discovery, cancer research, neurodegenerative disease studies and more.

Introductory prices for Plenty are at a fraction of FBS prices at $200 per 500ml bottle and $50 per 60ml sample.

Omeat first launched Plenty in August last year. At the time, it made its first commercial sales of the FBS replacement, positioning it 'among the first' revenue-generating cell-based meat companies.

The firm also completed the construction of its pilot plant for cell-based meat in November last year, located outside of Los Angeles, California. The 15,000-square-foot pilot plant is designed to house bioreactors up to 10,000 litres in size, with the capacity to produce up to 400 tons of product annually.

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