Lab-Grown Chicken Nuggets May Soon Hit Supermarkets – ryan

Scientists may have found a new way to make chicken nuggets—without need any animals.The development is a big step forward in the world of cultured meat—meat grown from animal cells instead of animals.

In the study, the team used chicken fibroblast cells, which come from connective tissue, and turned them into bite-sized pieces of whole-cut chicken with the help of tiny fiber tubes and robot-assisted assembly.

Professor Derek Stewart, Director of the Advanced Plant Growth Centre and Co-Director of the National Alternative Protein Innovation Centre at The James Hutton Institute, called the research “an exciting advance in the alternative protein sector and specifically culture meat.”

He added, “The science on display here is solid and robust, with a significant level of supplementary material to support the conclusions. It addresses many of the challenges that were seen as stumbling blocks such as aligned cell growth to deliver the meat texture sensory experience as well as the fundamental issues of getting nutrients and oxygen to the growing solid meat tissue.”

Growing larger pieces of meat in the lab has always been tricky. Without blood vessels, it’s hard for oxygen and nutrients to reach the inner cells, which limits how thick the tissue can grow. But the Hollow Fiber Bioreactor uses hollow fibers, which act like artificial blood vessels, to keep the tissue alive and healthy. These fibers are already used in things like water filters and dialysis machines.

The researchers from the University of Tokyo, used a small version of the bioreactor with 50 fibers to grow chicken muscle, then scaled it up with 1,125 fibers and produced more than 10 grams of whole-cut meat.

According to Professor Stewart, “The use of hollow fiber supports (in essence scaffolds) and the advances herein will open up many areas of allied research (and undoubtedly investment) with scaleup options now seemingly achievable with the progression from this paper in terms of better sensors, robotics and ultimately AI for control.”

The research team, led by Shoji Takeuchi sees this as more than just food. Their platform could also be used to grow human organs, test new drugs, or build soft robots that move like muscles.

“Our study presents a scalable, top-down strategy for producing whole-cut cultured meat using a perfusable hollow fiber bioreactor,” said Takeuchi.

“This system enables cell distribution, alignment, contractility, and improved food-related properties. It offers a practical alternative to vascular-based methods and may impact not only food production but also regenerative medicine, drug testing, and biohybrid robotics.”

Still, there are challenges to solve. Takeuchi said: “Remaining challenges include improving oxygen delivery in larger tissues, automating fiber removal, and transitioning to food-safe materials.

“Solutions may include use of artificial oxygen carriers to mimic red blood cells, bundle-removal mechanisms that efficiently remove fibers in a single operation, and edible or recyclable hollow fibers.”

As Professor Stewart noted, “Limitations of the system presented are identified with the need to create better conveyable oxygen in the nutrient media, pressure control in media deliver in scaled up systems and the precise removal of the hollow fibers to deliver a uniform and appetizing cut of whole meat. However, these issues seem solvable.

The researchers are also thinking about the bigger picture, including energy use and how sustainable lab-grown meat really is.

“As for all cultured meat production, the issues of energy use and associated sustainability need to be addressed,” Professor Stewart added, “but the proliferation of renewables and private wire connections could be a route to solving that conundrum.”

And with many people already enjoying chicken nuggets regularly—about 5 percent of Americans eat them daily or almost daily, according to a 2023 Statista survey—lab-grown versions that taste just as good could one day change the way we produce and eat meat, without needing to raise or kill animals.

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Reference

Nie, M., Shima, A., Yamamoto, M., & Takeuchi, S. (2025). Scalable tissue biofabrication via perfusable hollow fiber arrays for cultured meat applications. Trends in Biotechnology.