Analysis

January 18, 2019

What’s cooking in Europe’s lab-grown meat startups?

Whether you fancy lab-grown pork, beef or chicken for dinner, a host of European entrepreneurs are hoping to serve you first.

Kitty Knowles

10 min read

Dutch startup Mosa Meat had the world’s attention when it unveiled the first ever lab-grown meat burger back in 2013. This cost €250,000 to produce and was funded by Google cofounder Sergey Brin. It was an expensive piece of meat largely due to the cost of the serum the cells were grown in, fetal bovine serum (FBS). FBS is a nutrient and protein-rich liquid drawn from the foetus of a cow; just one litre costs between £300 and £700, and according to Mosa Meat cofounder Mark Post it takes around 50 litres to make one burger.

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Benjamina Bollag, cofounder Higher Steaks. Credit: Higher Steaks.
Benjamina Bollag, cofounder Higher Steaks. Credit: Higher Steaks.
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Meatable CTO Daan Luining (left), CEO Krijn De Nood (centre) and Head of R&amp;D Ruud Out (right). Credit: Meatable.
Meatable CTO Daan Luining (left), CEO Krijn De Nood (centre) and Head of R&D Ruud Out (right). Credit: Meatable.
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Ido Savir, cofounder at SuperMeat. Credit: SuperMeat.
Ido Savir, cofounder at SuperMeat. Credit: SuperMeat.
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Yaakov Nahmias, founder FM Technologies. Credit: FM Technologies.
Yaakov Nahmias, founder FM Technologies. Credit: FM Technologies.
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Chicken kebab meat grown using FM Technologies. Credit: FM Technologies.
Chicken kebab meat grown using FM Technologies. Credit: FM Technologies.
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A steak grown by Aleph Meat. Credit: Aleph Meat.
A steak grown by Aleph Farms. Credit: Aleph Farms.
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Innocent Meat founders Patrick Nonnenmacher, Laura Gertenbach and Philipp Wolters. Credit: Innocent Meat.
Innocent Meat founders Patrick Nonnenmacher, Laura Gertenbach and Philipp Wolters. Credit: Innocent Meat.
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