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Recycling of bioresource by-products for the production of cell culture media: research trends and prospects.

Critical reviews in food science and nutrition · 16 September 2026 · DOI 10.1080/10408398.2026.2728303

Researchers reviewed agricultural by-products as possible lower-cost, sustainable ingredients for cell culture media, because current formulations face cost, ethics, safety and consistency limits. They classified livestock, seafood, plant and secondary-processing sources, then mapped them to basal nutrients, serum replacement, growth factors, antibiotic alternatives, scaffolds and additives. Livestock sera and plasma proteins supported proliferation comparable with FBS. Fish collagen peptides and microalgal extracts had growth-factor-like or scaffold uses. Variable composition, uncertain long-term safety, limited scale-up testing and uneven regulation still block broad industrial adoption.

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