No more killing animals: the world's largest factory for the production of artificial meat is being built in the USA

The United States has announced the construction of the world's largest bioreactors for the production of artificially grown meat, which can provide tens of thousands of stores and restaurants. Experts say the move could be a game-changer for the nascent industry. TheGuardian.

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The American company Good Meat said that the bioreactors will grow more than 13 tons of chicken and beef per year. It will use cells taken from cell banks or eggs, so the meat won't require slaughter.

About 170 companies around the world work with farmed meat, but Good Meat is the only company that has received regulatory approval to sell its products to the public. In December 2020, he started selling farmed chicken in Singapore.

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Cattle, chickens and other livestock have a huge impact on the environment due to methane emissions, deforestation and water use. According to scientists, the consumption of conventional meat in rich countries must be sharply reduced in order to overcome the climate crisis. Proponents of farmed meat say it can provide the same taste and feel as regular meat, but with a much lower environmental impact.

According to the company, 10 new Good Meat bioreactors are under construction, each with a capacity of 250 liters and will be four stories high, much larger than any built to date. The US site is due to be completed within three months and put on stream by the end of 000, with a capacity of 2024 tons per annum by 2026 and 11 tons by 800.

The bioreactors are being manufactured under an agreement with ABEC, a leading manufacturer of biotechnological equipment, which also manufactures a 6000 liter bioreactor for the Good Meat facility in Singapore.

“I think our grandchildren will be asking us why we were eating meat from slaughtered animals back in 2022,” said Josh Tetrick, chief executive of Eat Just, Good Meat’s parent company.

“Cultivated meat matters because it will allow us to eat meat without any harm, without bulldozing a forest, without having to slaughter an animal, without having to use antibiotics,” he said. — Bioreactors will be the largest not only in the meat industry, but also in the biopharmaceutical industry. So the design and engineering challenges are significant, the capital investment is significant, and the potential to take another step toward moving society away from slaughterhouse use is significant.”

One of the challenges will be ensuring that the meat cells grow as well in the larger reactors as they do in the smaller ones used so far.

Cultured meat has not yet been approved for sale by the US Food and Drug Administration. “We applied,” Tetrick said. “We found the agency to be fully involved, asking all the questions one would expect, from cell identification to the final product. We would prefer not to try to predict if and when approval will occur.” Tetrick also said the company has produced a cell growth serum that does not require the use of bovine embryos, which were previously widely used.

Another cultured meat company, Upside Foods, raised $400 million in April, in part to fund a commercial plant to produce thousands of tons of meat a year. The size of the bioreactors has not yet been selected. “We don't even know what the limits are, frankly,” said Amy Chen, chief operating officer of Upside Foods. “But we will make some final decisions regarding the size of the cultivators as the construction date approaches.”

According to Chen, the taste of farmed meat played a key role in attracting investment. “Before I agreed to go, I had to try the meat. I took the first bite and realized that it was simultaneously one of the most unremarkable things and one of the most wonderful things I had ever eaten. It’s just meat,” she said.

Other companies with meat farming facilities include SuperMeat, Mosa Meat, Future Meat Technologies, and seafood producers Wildtype and Shiok Meats. There are also many companies that make plant-based meat substitutes.

Caroline Bushnell, vice president of the nonprofit Good Food Institute, said: “The scale of the Good Meat facility reflects the real and growing confidence companies have in the commercial potential of farmed meat. This plant, with its potential to reduce production costs, could be a game-changer in the race to bring cage-grown meat to restaurants, supermarkets and dining tables.”

Rosie Wardle, partner and co-founder of Synthesis Capital, said: “This announcement is yet another example of the farmed meat industry reaching a tipping point and moving from proof-of-concept to commercial scale. As investors, we are excited that this part of the alternative protein industry can play an important role in the future of food.”

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On May 25, Synthesis Capital announced the creation of a $300 million fund to invest in alternative proteins and food technologies, the largest dedicated fund raised in the sector to date.

Most of the meat people will eat in 2019 will not come from slaughtered animals, according to a 2040 report from consulting firm Kearney. 60% of the meat will either be farm-raised or replaced with plant-based alternatives.

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