Source: Rita Jane Gabbett, MEATINGPLACE, 7/17/18



Dutch food technology company Mosa Meat, whose founders unveiled the first burger made from lab-grown bovine cells in 2013, has received $8.8 million in investment funding from German drug maker Merck and Swiss food maker Bell Food Group, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The newspaper quoted Mosa Meat principal Mark Post as saying the company is looking at sites to build a pilot production plant, with the goal of supplying its products to European restaurants in 2021 at around $10 per burger.

The investment in Europe comes as the debate in the United States heats up over how to regulate and label these lab-created protein products. The meat industry is against calling them “meat” and wants them to be held to the same stringent food safety standards as meat harvested from food animals.

Currently, jurisdiction over the products lies with the Food and Drug Administration and not the USDA. Last week, FDA held a daylong meeting with stakeholders to discuss how to regulate the budding industry.

Consumers are weighing in as well. An overwhelming number of consumers believe that food products developed from cultured animal cells should carry specific labels about how they are produced or at least as something other than just “meat,” a new Consumer Reports survey found.

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