BioTech Foods

Last updated

BioTech Foods
Company type Subsidiary
Industry Food technology
Founded2017;8 years ago (2017)
Founders Mercedes Vila and Iñigo Charola
Headquarters
San Sebastián
,
Spain
Parent JBS S.A.
Website biotech-foods.com

BioTech Foods is a Spanish biotechnology company dedicated to the development of cultured meat from the cultivation of muscle cells previously extracted from animals. It is a subsidiary of Brazilian company JBS S.A.

Contents

History

Origins

The company is based in Donostia–San Sebastián, Basque Country and was co-founded in 2017 by the CTO of the project, Mercedes Vila, [1] and CEO Iñigo Charola. [2]

This project is based on the construction of tissues from the natural proliferation of animal cells in a controlled environment of humidity and temperature, without genetic modification or antibiotics. [3] Cultured meat based on tissue engineering aims to help alleviate three serious sustainability problems: the high increase in global demand for animal proteins, the environmental impact of factory farming, associated with the production of greenhouse gases and deforestation [4] and animal welfare.

Development

The start-up obtained the support of the CIC Nanogune, a research centre promoted by the Basque government. In 2019 BioTech Foods received the Entrepreneur XXI Award and came first in Expansión's Start Up awards in the Food and Agrotech category. [5]

By February 2020, BioTech Foods was in the development phase of Ethicameat, [6] its brand of pig protein products for the general public and the meat sector. BioTech Foods was one of the first companies to emerge in the global cultured meat sector [7] which could help increase food safety and prevent zoonotic diseases. [8]

Pilot plant and JBS investment

As of July 2019, one of the main challenges of the cultivated meat was the high production costs of products. [9] [10] BioTech Foods stated it sought 'to reach pilot scale by 2021'. [9] By the end of 2019, BioTech had opened its first pilot plant. [11]

In November 2021, BioTech Foods announced an agreement by which JBS S.A. was going to acquire a majority of shares in the company, including the pilot plant it operated in San Sebastián. JBS was going to invest in the construction of a new production plant to help BioTech achieve commercial production capacity in mid-2024. [12]

References

  1. ↑ Stock, Andrea Núñez-Torrón (28 October 2018). "Mercedes Vila (Biotech Foods): "La carne ética mejorará el..." TICbeat (in European Spanish). Retrieved 24 July 2020.
  2. ↑ Oliver Morrison (5 November 2019). "'Everybody accepts the cultured meat trend is happening': Biotech Foods". Food Navigator. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
  3. ↑ Ruiz, Alfonso Simón (11 October 2018). "Una empresa vasca compite con Bill Gates por llevar al mercado carne cultivada". Cinco Días (in Spanish). Retrieved 24 July 2020.
  4. ↑ Doncel, Luis (25 May 2019). "Carne 'in vitro' a la conquista de nuestras mesas". El País (in Spanish). ISSN   1134-6582 . Retrieved 24 July 2020.
  5. ↑ "Biotech Foods, Nucaps y Green Killer Weeds, las mejores en 'Alimentación y Agrotech'". EXPANSION (in Spanish). 4 November 2019. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
  6. ↑ Pellegrino, Roberto (2 February 2020). "Macellazioni addio. Sulla tavola arriva la bistecca biotech". ilGiornale.it (in Italian). Retrieved 24 July 2020.
  7. ↑ "New GFI State of the Industry Reports Show Alternative Proteins Are Poised to Flourish Post-Covid-19". The Good Food Institute . 13 May 2020. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
  8. ↑ Quetteville, Harry de (16 July 2020). "The future of meat: plant-based, lab-grown and goodbye to the abattoir". The Telegraph. ISSN   0307-1235 . Retrieved 24 July 2020.
  9. 1 2 Vincent West (10 July 2019). "The €250,000 lab-grown burger could be a more palatable €9 in two years". Irish Independent. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
  10. ↑ "La viande de laboratoire pourrait se vendre à des prix abordables en supermarché d'ici à deux ans". Le Monde.fr (in French). 11 July 2019. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
  11. ↑ Agnieszka de Sousa (10 December 2020). "Lab-Grown Meat Is Getting Closer to Supermarket Shelves". Bloomberg. Retrieved 8 December 2021. [Aleph Farms Ltd.] is also working on a pilot plant. Companies such as BioTech Foods, SuperMeat and Eat Just have already started testing sites.
  12. ↑ AgE (7 December 2021). "JBS takes over Bio Tech Foods". AgrarZeitung. Retrieved 8 December 2021.
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