EU invests €2m to develop cultivated beef for commercial markets
Funding from a Covid recovery package that was set up by the European Commission, known as React-EU, has been granted to two Dutch food firms – Nutreco and Mosa Meat - attempting to lower the costs of growing meat in vitro.
The React-EU package (Recovery Assistance for Cohesion and the Territories of Europe) was first established in December 2020, setting aside €50.6bn in funding for countries to adopt a greener and more sustainable economic recovery in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The collaborative project “Feed for Meat” aims to address one of the the leading challenges in cultured meat development; affordability. The grant will fund research and development on lower-cost and sustainable nutrients for the base media in which the beef cells grow in order to make production more commercially viable for European markets.
According to an independent Life Cycle Analysis study, cultivated beef production is projected to reduce climate impact by 92%, air pollution by 93%, use 95% less land and 78% less water when compared to industrial beef production.
The project was ranked first place in this highly-competitive scheme, which received over 60 funding applications - yet another indicator that cellular agriculture has a critical role to play in helping the European Union meet the robust goals of the Farm to Fork strategy within the Green Deal.
