Ontario, Canada (CU)_ A collaborative development agreement has been reached between the two large enterprises of the biotechnology industry. DSM and Meatable will collaborate to produce a final product that has a meat-like flavor and texture. The partnership’s major goal is to produce growth media at a low cost. Growth media is thought to account for 50-90 percent of the total cost of cultured meat production.
Wim Klop, Vice President of DSM Biotechnology Center, spoke about the worldwide demand for meat in the future and the ways to tackle the challenge. He said, ‘’Protein is an essential part of a balanced diet and vital for good health. Yet its production has a big environmental footprint. With the world population expected to grow to 10 billion people by 2050, a wide variety of solutions for more sustainable proteins will be needed. Cultivated meat is one of those promising, innovative protein solutions in which DSM invests. Our commitment goes way beyond investing in Meatable through DSM Venturing. With this joint development agreement DSM will contribute its unique competencies in biotechnology, such as fermentation, analysis and production scale-up to help make the science of cultivated meat a reality.”
Krijn de Nood, CEO and co-founder of Meatable, spoke about the cultivated meat. He said, “With traditional animal farming alone, we will not be able to meet the growing demand for meat worldwide; we need breakthrough solutions. Cultivated meat has the potential to provide the growing world population with the protein source many people love – meat – using an efficient and sustainable production process that respects animal health and welfare”.
He also expressed optimism over the collaboration with DSM. He said, “Joining forces with DSM, a global leader in biotechnology, will accelerate our research and development trajectory significantly. Together, we aim to develop the right nutritional ingredients in a fundamentally more cost effective and scalable process, to become the leading consumer choice for cultivated meat.” DSM Ventures, the venture capital arm of Royal DSM, was one of the donors in Meatable’s recent venture capital raise of US$47 million.
