UK – Finnebrogue, one of the UK’s leading artisan food producers, has launched a partnership with Ivy Farm Technologies, a cell-meat producer, to produce one of the world’s first cultivated wagyu beef burgers.
The process of creating the cultivated wagyu beef burger will involve taking cells from Finnebrogue’s herd and cultivating them in fermentation tanks at Ivy Farm’s 18,000 square feet facility in Oxford, England.
According to the manufacturer, the cultivated wagyu will join Ivy Farm’s existing stable of nascent products, which includes British pork and Aberdeen Angus beef and future products could include cultivated meat from Finnebrogue’s venison.
“Our task is always to make food that is nutritious, delicious and sustainable for food-loving consumers up and down the land and so we are excited to strike a partnership with Ivy Farm that will allow us to explore the future potential of cultivated meat,” Jago Pearson, chief strategy officer at Finnebrogue, said.
“In time, we are excited to help realise the potential this may bring in producing sustainable food that can feed a growing global population.”
Finnebrogue also added that it hopes the partnership will allow it to meet the increasing demand for its Wagyu products while reducing its carbon footprint.
Speaking about the partnership, Ivy Farm CEO Rich Dillon also noted that the new collaboration with Finnebrogue showcases how cultivated meat can work with traditional farming, helping to reduce the pressure on producers to intensify operations to meet growing demand, while boosting consumer choice.
“This Cultivated meat is sometimes called cellular agriculture. Ivy Farm grows cells from animals in large fermentation tanks to produce real meat that has a healthy, nutritional profile and a more sustainable greenhouse gas footprint.”
A report from McKinsey & Company, a global management consulting company, indicated that by 2030, cultivated meat could provide as much as half of 1% billion pounds of the world’s meat supply, with implications for multiple sectors.
“Making cultivated meat a US$25 billion global industry by 2030 presents opportunities within and beyond today’s food industry.”
Earlier this year, in what was described as a “watershed moment” for the meat industry, US companies Upside Foods and Good Meat announced they were to start selling cultivated chicken in the country following a four-year joint regulatory process by the US Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration.
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