Steakholder Foods

Last updated

Steakholder Foods Ltd
Company type Public
Industry Food technology
FoundersSharon Fima [1]
Headquarters,
Key people
Steve H. Lavin, [2] Dirk von Heinrichshorst, Eva Sommer, David Brandes [3]
Subsidiaries Peace of Meat (Antwerp, Belgium)
Website meatech3d.com

Steakholder Foods is a company which develops 3D bioprinting technologies for usage in cellular agriculture. Based in Israel, it has a Belgian subsidiary called Peace of Meat, with which it produces cultured meat, with a focus on cultivating foie gras. It was originally founded in 2019 as MeaTech 3D Ltd., or MeaTech for short.

Contents

History

MeaTech 2019–2020

MeaTech 3D was founded in 2019 and is headquartered in Ness Ziona, Israel. [1] It is listed on the Nasdaq and Tel Aviv stock exchanges as "MITC". [1] MeaTech manufactures technologies to produce alternative protein products, focusing on the production of cell-based beef and chicken. [1]

Peace of Meat 2019–2020

In 2019, the Foieture project was launched in Belgium with the goal of developing cultured foie gras (the name is a portmanteau of 'foie' and 'future') by a consortium of 3 companies: cultured-meat startup Peace of Meat, small meat-seasoning company Solina, and small pâté-producing company Nauta; and 3 non-profit institutes: university KU Leuven, food industry innovation centre Flanders Food, and Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant. [4] Peace of Meat, co-founded by Eva Sommer, David Brandes and Dirk von Heinrichshorst, [3] stated in December 2019 that it intended to complete its proof of concept in 2020, to sell its first cultured cell mass in 2022, and to go to market in 2023. [4] That month, the Foieture project received a research grant of almost 3.6 million euros from the Innovation and Enterprise Agency of the Flemish Government. [4] In early 2020, University of North Carolina professor Paul Mozdziak joined the Peace of Meat company. [3]

Peace of Meat presented its proof of concept on 4 March 2020 at a novel food conference in Berlin. [3] [5] The prototype consisted of three chicken nuggets that were 80% plant-made and 20% cultured duck fat. [3] [5] Piece of Meat had built two laboratories in the Port of Antwerp, [6] which entered into service in March 2020. [3]

In May 2020, Peace of Meat's Austrian-born cofounder and scientific researcher Eva Sommer stated that the startup was then able to produce 20 grams of cultured fat at a cost of about 300 euros (€15,000/kg); the goal was to reduce the price to 6 euros per kilogram by 2030. [6] In June 2020, she said that Peace of Meat aimed at producing 100,000,000 kilograms of cultured fat per year, to supply other food companies. [3] [7] Sommer commented that the COVID-19 pandemic has made people realise that 'many of the diseases of our time are caused by animals held for food production. Alternatives such as cultured meat are thus coming into view more than ever before.' [3]

Merger (2020–2022)

In September 2020, an acquisition agreement was reached by which Peace of Meat would become a subsidiary to the Israeli 3D bioprinting developer MeaTech after a gradual merger. As part of the deal, MeaTech invested 1 million euros into Peace of Meat on 18 October 2020. [2] The full cost of the acquisition was about 15 million euros, [7] or 17.5 million US dollars. [2] The acquisition of Peace of Meat by MeaTech was completed in early 2021. [1]

In May 2021, MeaTech stated that it sought to establish and operate a full-scale pilot plant with 3D bioprinting technologies for cultured chicken fat production in Antwerp, Belgium in 2022. [1] [7] In September 2021, the company reported that it was now able to produce 700 grams of 100% cell-based chicken fat per production run. [8]

Steakholder Foods (2022–present)

On 3 August 2022, the company has changed its name to Steakholder Foods to 'cultivate a new community of meat lovers'. 'As Steakholder Foods, our hope is to send a strong message to meat lovers around the globe that together we can and should create a world where people everywhere continue enjoying their favorite meat sustainably — for the health and welfare of the planet and all its inhabitants,' said CEO Arik Kaufman. [9]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Foie gras</span> French culinary dish

Foie gras ; French:[fwaɡʁɑ], ) is a specialty food product made of the liver of a duck or goose. According to French law, foie gras is defined as the liver of a duck or goose fattened by gavage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cultured meat</span> Meat created outside of a living animal

Cultured meat, also known as cultivated meat among other names, is a form of cellular agriculture where meat is produced by culturing animal cells in vitro. Cultured meat is produced using tissue engineering techniques pioneered in regenerative medicine. Jason Matheny popularized the concept in the early 2000s after he co-authored a paper on cultured meat production and created New Harvest, the world's first non-profit organization dedicated to in-vitro meat research. Cultured meat has the potential to address the environmental impact of meat production, animal welfare, food security and human health, in addition to its potential mitigation of climate change.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Schmaltz</span> Rendered chicken or goose fat

Schmaltz is rendered (clarified) chicken or goose fat. It is an integral part of traditional Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine, where it has been used for centuries in a wide array of dishes, such as chicken soup, latkes, matzah brei, chopped liver, matzah balls, fried chicken, and many others, as a cooking fat, spread, or flavor enhancer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chick culling</span> Process of killing newly hatched chicks for which the industry has no use

Chick culling or unwanted chick killing is the process of separating and killing unwanted chicks for which the intensive animal farming industry has no use. It occurs in all industrialised egg production, whether free range, organic, or battery cage. However, some certified pasture-raised egg farms are taking steps to eliminate the practice entirely. Worldwide, around 7 billion male chicks are culled each year in the egg industry. Because male chickens do not lay eggs and only those in breeding programmes are required to fertilise eggs, they are considered redundant to the egg-laying industry and are usually killed shortly after being sexed, which occurs just days after they are conceived or after they hatch. Some methods of culling that do not involve anaesthetics include: cervical dislocation, asphyxiation by carbon dioxide, and maceration using a high-speed grinder. Maceration is the primary method in the United States. Maceration is often a preferred method over carbon dioxide asphyxiation in western countries as it is often considered as "more humane" due to the deaths occurring immediately or within a second.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Duck as food</span> Meat from duck

In cooking and gastronomy, duck or duckling is the meat of several species of bird in the family Anatidae, found in both fresh and salt water. Duck is eaten in many cuisines around the world. It is a high-fat, high-protein meat rich in iron. Duckling nominally comes from a juvenile animal, but may be simply a menu name.

New Harvest is a donor-funded research institute dedicated to the field of cellular agriculture, focusing on advances in scientific research efforts surrounding cultured animal products. Its research aims to resolve growing environmental and ethical concerns associated with industrial livestock production.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">3D bioprinting</span> Utilization of 3D printing to fabricate biomedical parts

Three dimensional (3D) bioprinting is the utilization of 3D printing–like techniques to combine cells, growth factors, bio-inks, and biomaterials to fabricate functional structures that were traditionally used for tissue engineering applications but in recent times have seen increased interest in other applications such as biosensing, and environmental remediation. Generally, 3D bioprinting utilizes a layer-by-layer method to deposit materials known as bio-inks to create tissue-like structures that are later used in various medical and tissue engineering fields. 3D bioprinting covers a broad range of bioprinting techniques and biomaterials. Currently, bioprinting can be used to print tissue and organ models to help research drugs and potential treatments. Nonetheless, translation of bioprinted living cellular constructs into clinical application is met with several issues due to the complexity and cell number necessary to create functional organs. However, innovations span from bioprinting of extracellular matrix to mixing cells with hydrogels deposited layer by layer to produce the desired tissue. In addition, 3D bioprinting has begun to incorporate the printing of scaffolds which can be used to regenerate joints and ligaments. Apart from these, 3D bioprinting has recently been used in environmental remediation applications, including the fabrication of functional biofilms that host functional microorganisms that can facilitate pollutant removal.

Eat Just, Inc. is a private company headquartered in San Francisco, California, US. It develops and markets plant-based alternatives to conventionally produced egg products, as well as cultivated meat products. Eat Just was founded in 2011 by Josh Tetrick and Josh Balk. It raised about $120 million in early venture capital and became a unicorn in 2016 by surpassing a $1 billion valuation. It has been involved in several highly publicized disputes with traditional egg industry interests. In December 2020, its cultivated chicken meat became the first cultured meat to receive regulatory approval in Singapore. Shortly thereafter, Eat Just's cultured meat was sold to diners at the Singapore restaurant 1880, making it the "world's first commercial sale of cell-cultured meat".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beyond Meat</span> Los Angeles-based producer of plant-based meat substitutes

Beyond Meat, Inc. is a Los Angeles–based producer of plant-based meat substitutes founded in 2009 by Ethan Brown. The company's initial products were launched in the United States in 2012. The company went public in 2019, becoming the first plant-based meat analogue company to go public.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Upside Foods</span> American food technology company

Upside Foods is a food technology company headquartered in Berkeley, California, aiming to grow sustainable cultured meat. The company was founded in 2015 by Uma Valeti (CEO), Nicholas Genovese (CSO), and Will Clem. Valeti was a cardiologist and a professor at the University of Minnesota.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SuperMeat</span> Israeli startup company

SuperMeat is an Israeli startup company working to develop a "meal-ready" chicken cultured meat product created through the use of cell culture.

Cellular agriculture focuses on the production of agricultural products from cell cultures using a combination of biotechnology, tissue engineering, molecular biology, and synthetic biology to create and design new methods of producing proteins, fats, and tissues that would otherwise come from traditional agriculture. Most of the industry is focused on animal products such as meat, milk, and eggs, produced in cell culture rather than raising and slaughtering farmed livestock which is associated with substantial global problems of detrimental environmental impacts, animal welfare, food security and human health. Cellular agriculture is a field of the biobased economy. The most well known cellular agriculture concept is cultured meat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark Post</span> Dutch scientist (born 1957)

Marcus Johannes "Mark" Post is a Dutch pharmacologist who is Professor of Vascular Physiology at Maastricht University and Professor of Angiogenesis in Tissue Engineering at the Eindhoven University of Technology. On 5 August 2013, he was the first in the world to present a proof of concept for cultured meat. In 2020, he was listed by Prospect as the ninth-greatest thinker for the COVID-19 era.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mosa Meat</span> Dutch food technology company

Mosa Meat is a Dutch food technology company, headquartered in Maastricht, Netherlands, creating production methods for cultured meat. It was founded in May 2016.

Bico Group is a bioconvergence startup that designs and supplies technologies and services to enhance biology research. It focuses on commercializing technologies for life science research as well as bioprinting, and its products often combine capabilities in artificial intelligence, robotics, multiomics, and diagnostics.

Aleph Farms is a cellular agriculture company active in the food technology space. It was co-founded in 2017 by the Israeli food-tech incubator "The Kitchen Hub" of Strauss Group Ltd., and Prof. Shulamit Levenberg of the Faculty of Biomedical Engineering at Technion – Israel Institute of Technology and is headquartered in Rehovot, Israel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">3D food printing</span> 3D printing techniques to make food

3D food printing is the process of manufacturing food products using a variety of additive manufacturing techniques. Most commonly, food grade syringes hold the printing material, which is then deposited through a food grade nozzle layer by layer. The most advanced 3D food printers have pre-loaded recipes on board and also allow the user to remotely design their food on their computers, phones or some IoT device. The food can be customized in shape, color, texture, flavor or nutrition, which makes it very useful in various fields such as space exploration and healthcare.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vow (company)</span> Australian startup company

Vow is an Australian company that plans to grow cultured meat for commercial distribution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Believer Meats</span> Israeli food technology company

Believer Meats, from 2018 to 2022 known as Future Meat Technologies, or Future Meat for short, is a biotechnology firm which produces cultured meat from chicken cells and is working on cultured lamb kebabs and beef burgers. Based in Israel, its main office is located in Jerusalem, while its primary production facility is operating in Rehovot. Future Meat Technologies mainly seeks to supply hardware and cell lines to manufacturers of cultured meat rather than directly selling food products to consumers. In November 2022, Future Meat Technologies rebranded to Believer Meats.

Meatable is a Dutch biotechnology company aimed at cultured meat, particularly pork.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "MeaTech Announces Intention to Establish and Operate a Pilot Plant in 2022". PR Newswire. 11 May 2021. Retrieved 7 December 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 "MeaTech Invests €1M In Belgium's Peace of Meat as Part of Full Acquisition". Vegconomist. 21 October 2021. Retrieved 7 December 2021.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Peace of Meat: "We gaan 100.000 ton kweekvet per jaar produceren"". Kweekvlees.be (in Dutch). GAIA. 3 June 2020. Retrieved 7 December 2021.
  4. 1 2 3 Dieter De Cleene (17 December 2019). "Vlaanderen investeert in kweekvlees". Eos Wetenschap (magazine) (in Dutch). Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  5. 1 2 "Our Proof of Concept event at the Food Tech Campus in Berlin". peace-of-meat.com. 4 March 2020. Retrieved 7 December 2021.
  6. 1 2 Yves Degroote (8 May 2020). "Belgisch bedrijf bouwt 2 labo's voor kweekvlees". VTM (in Dutch). Retrieved 27 May 2020.
  7. 1 2 3 Bert Broens, Jens Cardinaels (14 May 2021). "Plannen voor Belgische proeffabriek voor kweekvet". De Tijd (in Dutch). Retrieved 7 December 2021.
  8. Sally Ho (20 September 2021). "MeaTech Is Now Churning Out 100% Pure Cultured Chicken Fat". Green Queen. Retrieved 7 December 2021.
  9. can, “We; Sustainably”, Should Create a World Where People Everywhere Continue Enjoying Their Favorite Meat (3 August 2022). "MeaTech 3D Changes Name to Steakholder Foods to "Cultivate New Community of Meat Lovers"" . Retrieved 21 September 2022.