First EU authorisation application for cultured meat from Germany

The Cultivated B, Heidelberg, a subsidiary of the German food manufacturer Infamily Foods, is the first company in the world to register a cell-cultured meat product with the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). The preliminary procedure for authorisation is currently underway, as reported by the Lebensmittelzeitung. The product falls under the European Union's Novel Food Regulation. The authorisation procedure is lengthy and will take at least 18 months, according to cautious estimates by industry experts. In addition, EFSA's novel food authorisation process is considered one of the toughest in the world, as it involves a thorough and evidence-based assessment of food safety and nutritional value.

The holding company InFamily Foods from Versmold (located between Bielfeld and Münster) originates from a traditional butcher's shop. Today, as The Butcher Family, this is one of the three pillars of the food company, with which a younger generation is striving for international markets. The other two pillars are The Plant Butchers and The Cultivated B.

The Cultivated B (TCB) is the business arm specialising purely in protein production from the fermenter, which presents itself as a kind of CDMO for the food sector with the slogan "Factory as a service". TCB has been producing bioreactors for cultured meat in Canada for some time. In October 2022, the company announced the opening of a 130,000 square metre facility in Ontario, which is part of a strategic partnership with the government-funded non-profit organisation Ontario Genomics to produce bioreactors ranging in size from 500 ml to 25,000 litres, as well as other equipment.000 litres and other devices for cellular agriculture and precision fermentation.

Just last week, the company announced a partnership with biotech company denovoMATRIX. Both will explore the possibilities of large-scale meat farming and establish a pilot-scale cell production process that can be adopted as the standard for successful large-scale meat farming. Dr Hamid Noori, CEO of The Cultivated B, commented: "This collaboration not only represents a step forward in cell line technology, but also reflects our shared commitment to advanced innovation in the field of cultured meat.

The subject of the current approval process is – in fine butchery tradition – the production of hybrid hot dogs with a mixture of vegan ingredients and pork from cell cultures grown in one of the specially developed bioreactors.

Recently, the Netherlands made a name for itself in the lab-grown meat community by allowing public tastings of "lab-grown meat and seafood" as a by-product of the difficult EFSA approval process. Under strict rules and with only very limited opportunities to participate, this direct customer contact nevertheless offers companies early interaction with customers for the first time in Europe, which could boost the entire sector. The Netherlands has a long tradition with Mark Post from Maastricht and several start-ups in the sector, as well as the first lab hamburger, which was presented and tasted in London in 2013. The aim now is to build on this more actively against Asian competitors and the first approvals in the USA.

The hotdog sausage from Versmold/Heidelberg will now be immersed in EFSA's opaque procedures for a few months until it can be heard, seen or even tasted again.

News of the "transcript" from 15 September 2023