Researchers say cell ag videos downplay energy and scale-up challenges

A study of cellular agriculture promotional videos found they typically emphasize crisis solutions while omitting production plant energy demands, regulatory hurdles, and scaling limitations. The research highlights a gap between marketing and operational reality.

German researchers have studied promotional videos from cellular agriculture companies. They found that the videos focus on global crisis solutions while leaving out production plants, energy demands and regulatory hurdles. Frank I. Müller of the Free University of Berlin worked with Frank Meyer and Judith Miggelbrink of the Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography to write the study. The Gerda Henkel Foundation funded the work. The team published their findings in Geographica Helvetica after analyzing 41 short videos from companies listed in the Good Food Institute database. The researchers sorted the video techniques into six patterns. These include infographics with founder interviews, fast cuts from cells to kitchens, and presenting the technology as a fix for several crises at once. The videos also use nostalgic images of pastures, contrast sterile labs with barns and smokestacks, and use emotional appeals around individual animals. The study points out that scaled-up production facilities are rarely shown in the videos. However, conventional farming is often represented through chimneys and deforestation. The authors did not measure if the videos change consumer attitudes. Many cited videos date from 2017 to 2023, and the paper was submitted in November 2024. Several examples in the paper involve companies or branding that no longer exist. Memphis Meats used a 2017 video and rebranded as UPSIDE Foods in May 2021. Believer Meats stopped operations in December 2025, and Meatable dissolved that same month after failing to secure more funding. The sample also includes Solar Foods, which makes Solein through gas fermentation, and Just Egg, which is a plant-based egg brand. The authors say that communication will shape the role of the sector in the food system. Miggelbrink stated that the competition for the future of protein supply happens in images, stories and promises as well as laboratories and bioreactors.

Read source: Cultivated X