Maastricht / NL. (mosa) Mosa Meat, the European food technology company that introduced the world’s first cultivated beef hamburger in 2013, announced an agreement with Singapore-based cultivated meat manufacturer Esco Aster, who will help to bring Mosa Meat’s cultivated beef to market. The formal signing ceremony between Mosa Meat CEO Maarten Bosch and Esco Aster CEO XL Lin was facilitated by the Dutch embassy in Singapore and witnessed by Dutch Ambassador Anneka Adema and Samuel Chan, the Head of Agrifood for the Singapore Economic Development Board.
Singapore is a leader in the cultivated meat sector and was the first country to grant regulatory approval of cultivated meat in 2020 as part of its 30 by 30 strategy. Founded in Singapore in 2017, Esco Aster is currently the first and only facility to obtain regulatory clearance to produce cultivated meat products in Singapore.
«We will now be able to produce our beef in Asia, as well as in Europe at our recently announced 77,000 square foot facility, the world’s largest cultivated meat campus to date,» said Mosa Meat CEO Maarten Bosch. «The ability to produce our beef on two continents will also reduce the carbon footprint associated with shipping meat across the globe. Our partnership with Esco Aster marks another step forward in our global expansion and is a proud moment for the entire team.»
Mosa Meat grows beef by taking a sesame-seed sized sample of cells and nurturing them to naturally grow into beef. The company can make 80,000 hamburgers from a single cell sample – without harming any cow.
Mosa Meat is part of a growing global movement to transform the way meat is produced, a necessity given that global meat consumption is projected to grow more than 40 percent by 2050. Beef is the protein with the highest carbon footprint, and Mosa Meat’s plans to offer consumers cultivated meat will give consumers the beef they crave – without harm to the environment.
Mosa Meat continues to grow from strength-to-strength, with recent milestones that include:
- 160 employees from 32 countries, with over 80 scientists and the largest number of PhDs in the industry;
- The production team has grown five-fold in the last three months;
- Recent expansion of its production facilities in Maastricht to 77,000 square foot (7,340 square metres) and an expanded footprint at existing locations, including Mosa Meat operations at Brightlands and the current pilot facility in Maastricht, where R+D capacity continues to grow. Together, this brings Mosa Meat one step closer towards commercialization.
The Netherlands’ government also recently announced the allocation of a EUR 60 million grant from the National Growth Fund, the world’s largest ever national government grant for cellular agriculture. As founding members of the Cellular Agriculture Netherlands Foundation, and with deep roots in Europe, Mosa Meat remains committed to seeking regulatory clearance in the EU and abroad.
Mosa Meat is a global food technology company pioneering a cleaner, kinder way of making real beef. Our founders introduced the world’s first cultivated beef hamburger in 2013, by growing it directly from cow cells. Founded in 2016, Mosa Meat is now scaling up production of the same beef that people love, but in a way that is better for people, animals, and the planet. A diverse and growing team of food-loving problem-solvers, we are united in our mission to fundamentally reshape the global food system. Headquartered in Maastricht, The Netherlands, Mosa Meat is a privately held company backed by Blue Horizon, M Ventures, Bell Food Group, Nutreco, Mitsubishi Corporation, Leonardo DiCaprio and other high-caliber investors.
