Artificial intelligence for the agri-food industry

R&D&I

Culturedmeat

In a world threatened by climate change, the increase in population poses a challenge when it comes to combining food and sustainability. Therefore, cultured meat is positioned as one of the greatest innovations of our century, integrating food security, animal welfare, and sustainability into a unique product.

Cultured meat, or laboratory grown meat, is that which originates from the cultivation of animal muscle cells previously extracted through biopsy, thus avoiding animal slaughter.

There are currently few entities producing cultivated meat worldwide. In all cases, these are primarily scientific start-up companies that have not managed to overcome the barrier of production on a larger scale. The production of cultured meat has generated significant interest in the industry, and numerous investment funds are betting on this new meat production strategy.

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, allow obtaining meat products for the prevention of dyslipidemia and colon cancer.
This project has been submitted to the CDTI ‘MISIONES’ call, a program designed to support sectorial strategic initiatives of business innovation within the framework of the State Program for Business Leadership in R&D of the State Plan for Scientific and Technical Research and Innovation 2017- 2020.
Out of a total of 128 proposals submitted, only 24 have been approved, being CULTUREDMEAT the best valued in Spain in all areas.

Partners

Currently, there are very few entities worldwide that are producing cultured meat. In all cases, they are eminently scientific start-up companies that have not managed to overcome the barrier of larger-scale production. The production of cultivated meat has aroused great interest in the industry and there are numerous investment funds that are betting on this new strategy of meat production.

CULTUREDMEAT was born thanks to the cooperation of biotechnology companies specialized in nutrition and production technologies at the national level, such as Argal (project leader), Biotech Foods, Martínez Somalo, DMC Research, BDI Biotech, Neoalgae, BTSA and Agrowingdata. The consortium also has the collaboration of 10 research organizations (CTIC CITA, University of Oviedo, Autonomous University of Madrid - FUAM, TECNALIA, Barcelona Science Park, University of Seville - FIUS, VICOMTECH, University of Granada, BIODONOSTIA and CIC BIOMAGUNE ) to carry out the development of the idea. On the other hand, ZABALA Innovation leads the project management thanks to its extensive experience in calls for R&D grants.

Funding

The project has been funded by the Spanish CDTI  (Center for Industrial Technological Development) – through the call “Science and Innovation Missions 2019”, and is co-financed with the European Regional Development Fund -ERDF- through its Multiregional Operational Program of Spain 2014-2020 and has a total budget of € 5,205,858.00 and a grant of € 3,707,288.59.

https://www.zabala.es/noticias/culturedmeat/