Spain is showing its support for cell-based meat by investing €5.2 million in BioTech Foods’s cultured meat project.
Spain’s government is investing €5.2 million in a cultured meat project led by San Sebastián-based company BioTech Foods.
The biotechnology firm is developing cultured meat by cultivating muscle cells previously extracted from animals. The company says cell-based meat is positioned as one of the century’s greatest innovations — a product integrating food safety, sustainability and animal welfare aimed at all kinds of consumers.
Cultured meat has been on the rise in the last few years, and it reached a landmark moment last December when Eat Just’s cell-based chicken was approved for sale in Singapore.
“The general objective of the CULTUREDMEAT project is to investigate meat produced from cellular agriculture that, together with the development of healthy fats and functional ingredients, allows the obtaining of meat products for the prevention of colon cancer and dyslipidemia,” said BioTech Foods.
Those two conditions mentioned above are, according to the project, among the diseases associated with the consumption of red meat in Western countries. “Research on functional ingredients that can help prevent these diet-related diseases of high social impact is, therefore, very relevant,” said the Spain-government backed cultured meat project. “The project will work on healthy lipids that are incorporated in the preparation of the final consumer product. Reducing consumer exposure to saturated fat could potentially prevent colon cancer and dyslipidemia.”
The cultured meat project was selected for funding by the Spanish Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology, which supports research and development projects for companies in Spain.
The CULTUREDMEAT project includes seven other entities apart from BioTech Foods. These are Argal, Martínez Somalo, DMC Research, BDI Biotech, Neoalgae, BTSA and Agrowingdata. It also features the collaboration of 10 research organisations: CTIC CITA, Oviedo University, Autonomous University of Madrid — FUAM, TECNALIA, Barcelona Science Park, University of Seville — FIUS, VICOMTECH, University of Granada, BIODONOSTIA and CIC BIOMAGUNE.
