The Meat4All research consortium, led by the Spanish company BioTech Foods, has won a € 2.7 million grant under the European Union's Horizon 2020 program. The funds received will be used for research and development, including improving the technology for the production of artificial meat, conducting tests to assess safety, as well as promoting Meat4All products on the global market. The consortium plans to establish mass and competitive production for the sale of cultivated meat by July 2022.
"The support of the European Union is critical for the entire BioTech Foods team and our partners from Organotechnie. For the first time, Europe has made a commitment to growing meat. Cultivated meat will be a key ingredient in our future diet and is now confirmed by government regulators," says BioTech Foods CEO Iñigo Charola. The Meat4All Consortium has identified several key goals that must be achieved in the coming years.
First of all, Meat4All intends to increase the production of meat crops from kilograms to tons, while maintaining nutritional value, as well as attracting additional funds for cell culture. At the same time, unlike many competing startups, BioTech Foods and Organotechnie refuse to use cells from genetically modified animals. As a result, companies should appear on the market that will not compete with other startups, but will be able to compete with the largest producers of natural meat.
BioTech Foods is based in San Sebastian and has been working on Ethicameat artificial meat since 2017 in collaboration with French Organotechnie. The company's activities cover the three most common types of meat: chicken, pork and beef. According to BioTech, Ethicameat is rich in animal proteins and contains no fat, and its taste is almost indistinguishable from animal products.
The Horizon 2020 program is another step on the part of the EU to implement the Green Deal for Europe. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, TechCrunch reports, has made the Green Deal a central element of its policy and plans to turn Europe into a climate neutral region by 2050. One of the points of this program is to reduce carbon emissions from agriculture. Thus, startups like BioTech Foods will have more opportunities for innovation related to alternative meats.
Source: meatinfo.ru.
