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Scalable Scaffold Materials for Structured Cultivated Meat.

Journal of biomedical materials research. Part A · 3 October 2026 · DOI 10.1002/jbm.a.70162

A review assesses scaffold materials and manufacturing methods for structured cultivated meat, focusing on whether they can meet food-sector demands for edibility, low cost and scale. The authors compare synthetic, animal, plant, fungal, microbial and waste-derived materials for cell compatibility and production potential. They classify fabrication methods by their roles in cell growth, alignment, bulk form and multi-material assembly, with mass transport as a shared limit. Their central judgement is that tissue architecture, throughput and cost matter more commercially than replicating full muscle physiology.

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