Memphis Meats, a San Francisco Bay–area company that is developing technology to grow meat from self-reproducing cells, raised $17 million in funding from investors that included Cargill, one of the largest U.S. meatpackers. “Cargill’s investment is the first by a traditional meat company in to the ‘clean meat’ sector, where startups claim to create products better for the environment than those produced on farms and ranches,” said Drovers CattleNetwork.
“While other parts of the food industry, such as dairy, have resisted the mainstreaming of animal product alternatives like almond milk, the move by Cargill shows the meat sector may be taking a different approach. Tyson, for example, has also invested in the sector, backing plant-based meat company Beyond Meat,” said Fortune.
In a statement, Cargill said, “We are committed to growing our traditional protein business and investing in innovative new proteins to ultimately provide a complete basket of goods to our customers. Memphis Meats has the potential to provide our customers and consumers with expanded protein choices and is aligned with our mission to nourish the world in a safe, responsible and sustainable way.”
Memphis Meats will need approval from the USDA and the FDA before it can market its products, said Drovers. Commercial-scale production is believed to be years in the future. Memphis Meats has produced beef, chicken, and duck from animal cells, said Fortune. “The company grows meat in tanks by feeding oxygen, sugar, and other nutrients to living animal cells.” Creating its product, it says, uses just 1 percent of the land and 10 percent of the water used by traditional animal agriculture.