Lab-grown meat start-up Mzansi Meat to unveil first cultivated beef burger in Africa

Mzansi Meat’s cultivated burger intends to mimic the flavour and texture of cow’s beef

South-African cell-based meats company Mzansi Meat are planning to unveil their cultivated beef burger at an event next month. The product is the first created in an African country.

After after a successful two years of R&D, and being a part of the Brinc Food Tech accelerator program, the Cape Town-based company will be able to start scaling up the production of their cultivated beef burger.

After debuting their lab-grown burger, the start-up intends to work on developing cell-based nuggets, steak, sausages and chicken.

“This is a huge milestone for South Africa and Africa,“ co-founder and CFO of Mzansi Meat Tasneem Karodia said in an interview with Green Queen.

“We are at the forefront of re-imagining food systems for the better. Our technology aims to bring cultivated meat cheaper and faster to consumers by leveraging our local expertise.”

Founded in 2020 by Brett Thompson and Tasneem Karodia, Mzansi Meat’s main aim is to offer lower carbon, cruelty-free meat alternatives that can be used in traditional cuisine, much of which tends to use meat.

Brett Thompson, CEO of Mzansi Meat Co. said in a statement: “The African population is expected to grow from 1.3B to 2.5B by 2050; the demand for meat is expected to rise with it. This challenge presents an opportunity. An opportunity for a new source of protein, cultivated meat, to be part of the solution for food security on the continent.”

The start-up, which is one of a few lab-grown meat companies in the African continent, closed an oversubscribed pre-seed funding round last summer.