Lab-Grown Meat: Mosa Meat Applies for Approval of New Ingredient

The Dutch company Mosa Meat, known for creating the world’s first lab-grown burger patty in 2013, applied for approval of a new ingredient with the relevant EU authorities this week. This ingredient is a new type of beef fat, partially cultivated in the lab. “Our first products will combine cultivated and plant-based ingredients,” added Mosa Meat CEO Maarten Bosch.

Ethical Questions in Europe

Mosa Meat’s goal is to be the first company to bring cultivated beef to the European market. Although there are already several companies pursuing the same goal, registering this new type of food in Europe is challenging. While lab-grown meat in the form of chicken nuggets has been available in Singapore for several years, the production method remains controversial in Europe. Countries like Italy, France, and Austria oppose lab-grown meat on ethical grounds. However, a similar approval request has already been filed in Brussels by the French company Gourmey, which aims to bring a foie gras made from lab-grown meat to the market.

Future Development of Lab-Grown Meat

Interest in the topic is high, with a steady influx of new investors, many of whom come from the conventional meat industry, such as the PHW Group, known for its Wiesenhof brand. The idea behind lab-grown meat is to produce environmentally friendly and humane meat on a large scale. Price is just as important as the ethical considerations. Mosa Meat’s first test burger patty cost 250,000 € to produce. With increasingly efficient production methods and falling energy costs, the goal is to create a beef patty for around 8 €.