Under‐Explored Species, Breeds and Cell Types With Potential for Cultivated Meat Production

Abstract

ABSTRACT To achieve scale and cost parity, cultivated meat production must overcome critical bottlenecks such as the quality of starting cells. This review presents a systematic evaluation of unconventional and non‐traditional sources of cells as targeted strategies to address these specific manufacturing challenges. By moving beyond traditional domesticated livestock as sources for starting cells, this review highlights how under‐explored species or breeds offer distinct biological advantages with potential to directly improve bioprocess efficiency by leveraging natural traits such as enhanced proliferation rates, potential for spontaneous immortalisation and optimised differentiation. Furthermore, diversifying cell sourcing not only accelerates the path to commercial‐scale production but also enables the creation of novel cultivated meat products and other high‐value animal‐derived materials.