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Israeli food tech start-up, BioBetter, is exploring the potential of the Nicotiana tabacum (tobacco) plant in overcoming challenges of scaled production in cultured meat. The company says that this "botanical breakthrough" could significantly reduce the cost of cultivated meat and facilitate rapid scale-up. While cellular developments in cultivated meat are becoming more prevalent, challenges surrounding cost and scalability in the mass market still remain. In a statement, BioBetter said: "Cell-derived meat requires a culture medium composed of a mix of amino acids, nutrients, and – most importantly – growth factors (GF’s) without which cells cannot multiply. Currently, such media are costly due to the complexity of producing GF’s." "For example, insulin and transferrin GFs are collected from livestock, making it difficult to obtain large quantities. Some can be attained via fermentation of yeast or bacteria, but those methods require expensive facilities. The purification process also is complicated and expensive." BioBetter's process involves turning tobacco plants into bioreactors for expression and large-scale production of the proteins. "Plant bioreactors use renewable energy and fixate CO2. They are self-forming, self-sustaining and biodegradable. BioBetter uses open-field plantations to enable fast, efficient and flexible response to market needs," the company said. Tobacco plants can achieve up to four growth cycles annually and can be harvested year-round, making the plant widely accessible to the cultivated meat industry. Using a proprietary protein extraction and purification technology, BioBetter is able to exploit almost every part of the tobacco plant and deliver a high purity product at scale. Amit Yaari, CEO of BioBetter commented: “There are multiple advantages to using Nicotiana tabacum as a hardy vector for producing GFs of non-animal origin. It is an abundant crop that has no place in the food-and-feed chain due to its extremely bitter taste and content of undesirable alkaloids." He continued: "The global trend for reducing tobacco smoking also is raising concerns among tobacco growers that the crop might eventually become obsolete. Yet the tobacco plant has huge potential to become a key component in the future of food.”