British start-up Ivy Farm has opened the largest cultured meat pilot plant in Europe. And it announces the arrival of its products on the shelf by 2023.
Ivy Farm, cultured pork.
The venture began as a spinoff from Oxford University and has already raised $30 million. The mission of the team of biotechnology researchers is to invent a way to continue eating tasty meat without harming the environment, animals and consumer health.
Indeed, the project aims to industrially produce ‘real’ meat by cultivating pig stem cells. Ground meat from ‘cellular agriculture‘ actually seems to taste the same as authentic meat, compared to which it is characterized as obtained:
- In the absence of pig slaughtering. Indisputable,
- Without antibiotics. Which farmers can also dispense with thanks to functional algae and microalgae-based feeds (e.g., Algatan),
- with an optimal nutritional profile by reducing saturated fats in favor of healthy fats (omega 3), such as is possible while offering acorns to pigs.
Cellular sausages coming soon
The founders of Ivy Farm announce that by next year the classic British pork sausage will be available. Other types of meat grown to reproduce beef products (such as Israel’s Future Meat) and who knows what else will follow.
‘Whatever the dish, all meat products grown by Ivy Farm will be antibiotic-free. And they will be fresh, too; since we don’t need as many steps in the process to bring sausages and burgers to supermarket shelves and refrigerators‘, they promise at IvyFarm.
Pilot plant
The new pilot plant is a facility of more than 5,000 square meters, built with energy conservation in mind, and houses a 600-liter terminal bioreactor that will allow the production of more than 2.8 tons of cultured meat per year.
In addition to the laboratories and offices, kitchens are set up to experiment with new products made from cultured ground meat, with attention also paid to added ingredients, salt above all.
Timing, perplexity
Whether lab meats can be placed on the European market obviously depends on whether they are authorized as Novel Food, according to reg. EU 2015/2283 and corresponding regulations in UK.
We therefore remain in ‘watchful anticipation,’ recalling some concerns already expressed on the subject. And also raised by iPES FOOD.
Professional journalist since January 1995, he has worked for newspapers (Il Messaggero, Paese Sera, La Stampa) and periodicals (NumeroUno, Il Salvagente). She is the author of journalistic surveys on food, she has published the book "Reading labels to know what we eat".
