A new report by intellectual property firm Appleyard Lees has found that annual patent filings for cultivated meat innovations fell by almost 10% from 2022 to 2023. In contrast, there was an increase of around 9% the previous year, while filings more than tripled from 2019 to 2021.
The decline has been particularly sharp in the US, where applications have fallen by over 40%. This is likely due to bans and restrictions imposed on cultivated meat in some states, which have impacted consumer and investor confidence.
Patent activity has also fallen by 25% in Europe, possibly due to efforts to ban the production and sale of cultivated meat in countries such as Italy. Conversely, Japan has provided significant support to the cultivated meat industry, and patent applications are up by more than 100% in the country.
Funding remains a key challenge
Dutch company Meatable was the top cultivated meat patent filer in the period studied, but South Korea’s Hanwha Solutions Corporation and the UK’s Ivy Farm also filed multiple patents.
Filings focused on ways to reduce production costs, increase efficiency, add nutritional components and ingredients to culture media, improve texture, flavor, and smell via improved fiber structures, and incorporate fats or genetically modified cell lines.
“In the cultivated meat sector, funding, regulation, and consumer uptake remain key challenges for innovators, alongside upscaling and production
efficiency,” said Emily Bevan-Smith, a patent attorney at Appleyard Lees.
Plant-based applications on the decline
According to the report, patent applications for plant-based meat have declined for the second consecutive year, falling from 280 to 223 after peaking at 296 in 2021. Once again, the US saw the sharpest drop at 37%.
By company, Cargill and Unilever filed the most plant-based meat patent applications. By region, Europe took the lead, with 85 applications in 2023.
Innovations included fish alternatives, wheat gluten alternatives to minced meat, soybean and soy protein-based meat compositions, techniques to improve the texture and structure of plant-based meat, and advancements in ingredients such as lentil flour and pea protein.
“Global patent activity in the cultivated meat sector shows a strong push to appeal to consumers by creating products that closely resemble conventional meat in flavor, texture, nutritional value, and cooking behavior,” said James Myatt, partner at Appleyard Lees. “For plant-based meats, innovations relating to plant-based fish appeared prevalent among many of the top filers.”
