Table 3.
Quality traits and research trends to overcome the quality limitations of cell-based food
| Trait | Current status and limitations | Research trends | References |
|---|---|---|---|
| Color | • Low myoglobin content by suppressed gene expression at ambient oxygen conditions | • Oxygen and/or temperature conditioning | (Alam et al. 2025) |
| • Supplement of heme protein, iron, or additives | (Ben-Arye et al. 2020) | ||
| Flavor | • Low flavor compound contents | • Flavor precursor supplement | (Lee et al. 2024) |
| • Post-harvest storage (aging) to produce FAA | (Furuhashi and Takeuchi 2025) | ||
| • Optimization of adipocyte differentiation | (Lim et al. 2024) | ||
| • Co-culture of adipocytes | (Elhaddad et al. 2025) | ||
| Texture |
• Weak texture • Difficulty in producing full-size meat products due to the limited diffusion of nutrients and oxygen |
• Tissue engineering or 3D bioprinting | (Liu et al. 2024) |
| • Scaffolds to support cell attachment and alignment | (Meng et al. 2025) | ||
| • Co-culture of adipocytes and fibroblasts | (Nie et al. 2025) | ||
| Juiciness | • Low WHC | • Binders to increase crosslinks and WHC | (Park et al. 2025) |
| • Cell hybridization to increase WHC | (Sakai et al. 2021) | ||
| Nutrition | • Similar amino acid composition | • Scaffold materials with high nutritional value | (Simsa et al. 2019) |
| • Different fatty acid composition | • Tissue assembly or cell hybridization | (Wang et al. 2024) |
FAA, free amino acids; WHC, water-holding capacity