An American company will build the world’s largest bioreactors to create artificially grown meat that doesn’t require the killing of animals.
Good Meat, the cultivated meat division of Eat Just, has commissioned the largest known bioreactors for chicken and beef cultivated meat.
Cultivated meat, also sometimes referred to as cell-based meat, clean meat, cultured meat and in-vitro meat, is artificially-grown genuine meat that is produced by cultivating animal cells directly.
After cells are taken from a healthy animal – which isn’t killed in the process – they are placed in a large tank where they are fed nutrients until they divide and grow.
Ten 250,000-litre bioreactors will be built in the US and form the foundation for Good Meat’s large-scale cultivated meat facility. Good meat claims the complex will have the capacity to produce up to 30 million pounds of meat without the need to slaughter a single animal.
Global food production is responsible for a third of all planet-heating gases produced by humans, with meat causing twice the pollution of plant-based foods, according to a study by the University of Illinois.
The facility will initially produce chicken and beef and the company plans to distribute products to millions of customers across the United States. Good Meat is planning to finalise site selection in the next three months and is continuing to engage with the Food and Drug Administration and US Department of Agriculture on a regulatory pathway to market.
Josh Tetrick, co-founder and CEO of Eat Just, said Good Meat is the only cultivated meat manufacturer in the world to secure regulatory approval.
“Our first step was receiving regulatory approval and launching in Singapore,” he said.
“Our second step has been selling to customers through restaurants, street vendors and delivery platforms. We’ve learned that consumers want this, and we’re ready to take the next step to make this happen at a commercial scale.”
