The Bell Food Group acquires a stake in Mosa Meat

29.01.2019 Sustainability & innovation

In July, the Bell Food Group acquired a stake in the Dutch start-up Mosa Meat, the world's leading company for cultured beef. In a few years' time, this could become an alternative for consumers who are questioning their meat consumption for ethical reasons.

What hardly anyone could have imagined ten years ago is now a reality: thanks to a newly developed process, it is now possible to produce cultured meat without having to slaughter an animal. A few cells are removed from an animal by means of a biopsy, which then grow into muscle meat in the laboratory. The growth process is basically identical to the normal muscle growth of the animal, except that in the case of cultured meat it takes place outside the animal in the laboratory. Accordingly, cultured meat does not differ from conventional meat in terms of structure and content composition.

The Dutch start-up Mosa Meat is a leader in the research and production of cultured beef. The Bell Food Group announced in July 2018 that it was investing around two million euros in the up-and-coming company. For the Bell Food Group, this is an investment with vision; CFO Marco Tschanz comments: "For us, cultured meat is an alternative for those consumers who question their meat consumption for ethical reasons. It also gives us the opportunity to meet the growing demand for meat in a sustainable way."With its investment in Mosa Meat, the Bell Food Group is securing early access to an interesting alternative production method for meat. The Bell Food Group is also supporting the development and research work with its expertise as one of the leading meat processors in Europe.

Cultured meat could represent an additional alternative to conventional meat production in the future. The conditions for this are certainly promising. Professor Mark Post, co-founder and head of research at Mosa Meat, presented the world's first burger made from cultured beef in London back in 2013. At the time, it cost around USD 325,000 to produce

Thanks to the further development of the production process, Mosa Meat has now come a long way from these price levels. However, the production of cultured beef is still very complex and expensive. For this reason, Mosa Meat's focus in the coming years will be on developing a production process to produce cultured beef in larger quantities and at a reasonable price. The aim is to be able to offer burgers for around CHF 10 by 2021.

How is cultured meat produced

In contrast to conventional meat, cultured meat is not produced by growth in the animal, but by tissue cultivation in the laboratory. For this purpose, stem cells are removed from an animal muscle, for example from cattle, by means of a biopsy under anaesthetic.

A bioreactor is responsible for cell growth, as is the case in the production of other foods such as beer or cheese. The cells multiply in it in exactly the same way as they would in an animal. Trillions of cells are created from a small sample. In the next step, the cells develop into muscle cells. These grow and form muscle cords over time. The end product is indistinguishable from conventional minced beef under the microscope. From the sample of a single cow, 800 million muscle strands can be obtained - enough for the production of 80,000 Big Macs.