In Israel, Future Meat Technologies announced a $2.2 million seed investment co-led by Tyson Ventures, the venture capital arm of Tyson Foods. Future Meat Technologies is a Jerusalem-based biotechnology company advancing a distributive manufacturing platform for the cost-efficient, non-GMO production of meat directly from animal cells, without the need to raise or harvest animals.
“It is difficult to imagine cultured meat becoming a reality with a current production price of about $10,000 per kilogram,” said Prof. Yaakov Nahmias, the company’s founder and Chief Scientist. “We redesigned the manufacturing process until we brought it down to $800 per kilogram today, with a clear roadmap to $5-10 per kg by 2020.”
Animal fat produces the unique aroma and flavor of meat that “makes our mouth water,” noted Prof. Nahmias, and Future Meat Technologies is now the only company that can produce this particular fat, without harvesting animals and without any genetic modification.