Cultivation of bovine lipid chunks on Aloe vera scaffolds.

Aloe vera, renowned for its medicinal and food applications, offers a sustainable, scalable, and cost-effective scaffold material for cultured meat production. Our method repurposes Aloe vera parenchyma into a sustainable and innovative scaffold for CM production. These scaffolds, derived from agricultural byproducts, feature a porous structure that retains liquids and supports bovine mesenchymal stem cell (bMSC) adhesion, proliferation, and extracellular matrix formation. By incorporating oleic acid, the scaffolds enable the accumulation of fat-like tissue, creating "lipid chunks" that can enhance the texture and flavor profile of plant-based meat alternatives. Furthermore, scalability is addressed by culturing the scaffolds in a macrofluidic single-use bioreactor (MSUB), showcasing the potential for large-scale production. This work demonstrates Aloe vera scaffold's versatility as a cost-effective material and highlights its promise for sustainable protein solutions and tissue engineering applications.
Competing Interests: Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests. The funders had no role in the study’s design, in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data, in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results. All authors of this publication have provided their consent for its publication. The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/Supplementary Material. Further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding authors.
(© 2025. The Author(s).)