Mosa Meat announces new Maastricht production facility
Mosa Meat is moving forward with plans to scale its cultivated beef production by constructing a new industrial plant in the Dutch city of Maastricht.
Maastricht has been home to Mosa Meat since its founding in 2016, and the new production facility will be located close to its current cultured beef pilot factory in the city.
The new facility will more than double the production space available to the start-up, moving from 2,760 square-metres to 7,340 square-metres. CEO Maarten Bosch has claimed the expansion will constitute “the largest cultivated meat campus in the world”.
Developing the new space is part of Mosa Meat’s plans to scale its beef cultivation to what it calls “industrial production levels”. The start-up says it has already proved proof of concept at pilot scale, and the next step is to show it can produce large quantities of meat.
The company’s aim is to be part of a sustainable transformation regarding meat consumption. It says the world is projected to increase its meat eating by more than 40% by 2030, and beef is the protein with the highest carbon footprint.
Bosch said in a statement that the team has both European and global commercialisation plans – though these will be contingent on novel food approval in relevant countries.
The company is already one of the biggest players in the lab-grown meat space, having drawn significant funding from high-profile investors like Oscar-winning actor Leonardo DiCaprio.
Alongside an increased production facility, Mosa Meat has focused on expanding its team too. Overall headcount at the start-up is now more than 160, with some 80 scientists in total.
It has also grown its production team five-fold in the last three months in preparation for the opening of the new facility, which is scheduled for 2023.
Cultured meat is a fast-moving space within foodtech. This year has also seen significant headlines from other cultivation companies, as well as the news that the Dutch House of Representatives will legalise cell-based meat sampling.
Earlier this month, fellow Dutch start-up Meatable announced it was partnering with Singaporean meat manufacturer ESCO Aster, become the country’s first cultured pork producer. Crucially, Singapore is currently the only country in the world to have approved the sale of cultivated meat – suggesting a watershed moment for the industry is approaching.
