BioTech Foods

BioTech Foods is a Spanish biotechnology company dedicated to the development of cultured meat from the cultivation of muscle cells previously extracted from animals.

The company is based in Donostia–San Sebastián, Basque Country and was co-founded in 2017 by the CTO of the project, Mercedes Vila,[1] and CEO Iñigo Charola.[2]

This project is based on the construction of tissues from the natural proliferation of animal cells in a controlled environment of humidity and temperature, without genetic modification or antibiotics.[3] Cultured meat based on tissue engineering aims to help alleviate three serious sustainability problems: the high increase in global demand for animal proteins, the environmental impact of factory farming, associated with the production of greenhouse gases and deforestation[4] and animal welfare.

The start-up obtained the support of the CIC Nanogune, an research centre promoted by the Basque government. In 2019 BioTech Foods received the Entrepreneur XXI Award and came first in Expansión's Start Up awards in the Food and Agrotech category.[5]

BioTech Foods is currently in the development phase of Ethicameat,[6] its brand of pig protein products for the general public and the meat sector. BioTech Foods is one of the first companies to emerge in the global cultured meat sector[7] which could help increase food safety and prevent zoonotic diseases.[8]

As of July 2019, one of the main challenges of BioTech Foods is the high production costs of their products, which they said were about 100 euros per kilogram.[9][10] BioTech stated it sought 'to reach production scale and have regulatory approval by 2021'.[9]

References
  1. Stock, Andrea Núñez-Torrón (2018-10-28). "Mercedes Vila (Biotech Foods): "La carne ética mejorará el..." TICbeat (in Spanish). Retrieved 2020-07-24.
  2. Oliver Morrison. "'Everybody accepts the cultured meat trend is happening': Biotech Foods". Food Navigator. Retrieved 2020-07-24.
  3. Ruiz, Alfonso Simón (2018-10-11). "Una empresa vasca compite con Bill Gates por llevar al mercado carne cultivada". Cinco Días (in Spanish). Retrieved 2020-07-24.
  4. Doncel, Luis (2019-05-25). "Carne 'in vitro' a la conquista de nuestras mesas". El País (in Spanish). ISSN 1134-6582. Retrieved 2020-07-24.
  5. "Biotech Foods, Nucaps y Green Killer Weeds, las mejores en 'Alimentación y Agrotech'". EXPANSION (in Spanish). 2019-11-04. Retrieved 2020-07-24.
  6. Pellegrino, Roberto (2020-02-02). "Macellazioni addio. Sulla tavola arriva la bistecca biotech". ilGiornale.it (in Italian). Retrieved 2020-07-24.
  7. "New GFI State of the Industry Reports Show Alternative Proteins Are Poised to Flourish Post-Covid-19". The Good Food Institute. 2020-05-13. Retrieved 2020-07-24.
  8. Quetteville, Harry de (2020-07-16). "The future of meat: plant-based, lab-grown and goodbye to the abattoir". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2020-07-24.
  9. Vincent West/Reuters (10 July 2019). "The €250,000 lab-grown burger could be a more palatable €9 in two years". Irish Independent. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
  10. "La viande de laboratoire pourrait se vendre à des prix abordables en supermarché d'ici à deux ans". Le Monde.fr (in French). 2019-07-11. Retrieved 2020-07-24.
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