Today is World Vegan Day, which is celebrated yearly on the anniversary of the founding of the Vegan Society. With events worldwide, the day is a moment to celebrate the benefits of veganism. In an effort to find meat alternatives, companies around the world are experimenting with different technologies to deliver tasty yet nutritious meat substitutes.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Netherlands makes no exception, and here we spotlight some of the frontrunners in alternative meat technology. Let’s take a closer look at three innovative companies: Mosa Meat, Protix, and Meatable, all of which are pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in the world of meat alternatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mosa Meat<\/a>, the company that brought the world its first cultured burger in 2013, is now moving closer to bringing its cultured beef burgers to the mass market. Taking samples of cow cells as big as a peppercorn, the company grows these cells in the lab, allowing them to develop muscle and fat- like they would in a cow. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Earlier this year, the company secured \u20ac40 million<\/a> in funding to upscale its production processes at Brightlands Maastricht Health Campus. With the ability to produce hundreds of thousands of burgers, Mosa Meat is gearing up for its first formal tastings in the Netherlands. <\/p>\n\n\n\n “Our goal is to organize our food system so that we can continue producing good food for a growing world population without irreparably damaging the planet. This is a huge challenge that will require many people and organizations to work together,\u201d said Mosa Meat CEO Maarten Bosch commenting<\/a> on the latest funding round. <\/p>\n\n\n Meatable<\/a> has also recently secured a substantial $35 million<\/a> in funding to bring its cultivated pork products to market. Its opti-ox\u2122 technology enables it to replicate the natural growth process of cells, producing real muscle and fat cells 30 times faster than traditional pig farming. This makes Meatable’s pork a sustainable option and a feat of scientific innovation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With a total funding of $95 million, Meatable is poised to launch its cultivated pork in Singapore in the upcoming year and establish a presence in the United States soon after. Last April, the company organized the first tasting, with Prince Constantijn van Oranje among the guests. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Krijn De Nood was CEO of the startup all along. He recently handed over the baton to American Jeff Tripician. Meatable is going to focus on the American market in the near future. \u201cThere, people are open to innovations like cultured meat. Market approval processes are easier and faster in America than in Europe. Here, the lead time is so long, we can\u2019t wait for that as a startup,\u201d told<\/a> De Nood. However, the company\u2019s research and development branch remains in the Netherlands.<\/p>\n\n\n Protix<\/a> offers a different angle on the alternative protein question. Instead of cultured meat, Protix breeds insects to create sustainable and competitive alternatives to fish and livestock feed. Kees Aarts, the company’s founder, has developed a system where insects are grown on a large scale, using food residues to produce protein for animal feed. This process requires little space, thrives on waste streams, and boasts significantly lower CO\u2082 emissions than traditional chicken or soy feeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The company’s 15,000-square-meter factory in Bergen op Zoom is a testament to its success in converting food scraps into proteins and fats for animal feed. With a recent investment of \u20ac50 million, Protix is set on international expansion and further R&D to perfect its production capacity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Protix supplies dozens of companies worldwide in the animal feed and feed sector. Aarts developed a business model in an industry that did not yet exist, and the technology for growing the insects from scratch and European regulations initially stood in the way of his plans. \u201cThrough our production process, food waste returns to our food system. That created a new industry that EU legislation was not yet ready for,\u201d he told IO in a recent interview<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n The efforts of Protix, Meatable, and Mosa Meat highlight the Netherlands’ significant contributions to the burgeoning field of meat alternatives. Each company is tackling the challenge from a unique angle\u2014whether through insect protein, cultured pork, or beef. As these startups continue to grow, they not only promise to transform our food systems but also offer hope for a more sustainable future. With the backing of investors, regulatory progress, and increasing consumer interest, the meat alternative industry is poised for a breakthrough, paving the way for a more sustainable world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Today is World Vegan Day, which is celebrated yearly on the anniversary of the founding of the Vegan Society. With events worldwide, the day is a moment to celebrate the benefits of veganism. In an effort to find meat alternatives, companies around the world are experimenting with different technologies to deliver tasty yet nutritious meat […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2580,"featured_media":495526,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[46891,79389,27488,26250],"location":[6763],"article_type":[43139],"serie":[],"archives":[],"internal_archives":[],"reboot-archive":[82868],"class_list":["post-491584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bio","tag-meat-substitutes","tag-meatable","tag-mosa-meat-en","tag-protix-en","location-netherlands","article_type-features","reboot-archive-bio"],"blocksy_meta":[],"acf":{"subtitle":"On World Vegan Day, we highlight three of the most promising Dutch companies offering alternatives to animal proteins. ","text_display_homepage":false},"author_meta":{"display_name":"Laio","author_link":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/author\/laio\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/brewbart_a_cultivated_meat_hamburger_PR-image_photorealistic_4k_f2a198b6-438a-4385-a5dc-3fbd43fa94d9.png","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["BIO+<\/a>"],"unlinked":["BIO+<\/span>"]},"tags":{"linked":["meat substitutes<\/a>","Meatable<\/a>","Mosa Meat<\/a>","Protix<\/a>"],"unlinked":["meat substitutes<\/span>","Meatable<\/span>","Mosa Meat<\/span>","Protix<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":"0","relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 1 year ago","modified":"Updated 1 year ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on November 1, 2024","modified":"Updated on November 1, 2024"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on November 1, 2024 10:31 am","modified":"Updated on November 1, 2024 10:31 am"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2580"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=491584"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491584\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/495526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=491584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=491584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=491584"},{"taxonomy":"location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/location?post=491584"},{"taxonomy":"article_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article_type?post=491584"},{"taxonomy":"serie","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/serie?post=491584"},{"taxonomy":"archives","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/archives?post=491584"},{"taxonomy":"internal_archives","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/internal_archives?post=491584"},{"taxonomy":"reboot-archive","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/reboot-archive?post=491584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Meatable: fast-tracking cultivated pork<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Protix: sustainable insect-based solutions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The road ahead for meat alternatives<\/h2>\n\n\n\n