UK-based tissue engineering company 3D Bio-Tissues (3DBT) and its sister company Kerato, owned by BSF Enterprise, plan to form a joint venture with continuous cell manufacturing biotech CellRev. 

The companies will develop a new JV focused on developing, and offering to the market, an end-to-end solution for manufacturing cell-based meat at scale. 

Named Cultivated Meat Technologies (CMT), the JV will combine CellRev’s continuous bioprocessing expertise, which facilitates faster, cheaper and more sustainable production of muscle cells, with 3DBT’s know-how in forming meat tissue and its City-Mix animal-free cell culture supplement. City-Mix is already being used in the growth of skin, muscle and fat cells for use in cell-based meat.  

CMT aims to provide the market with the premier platform for manufacturing cell-based meat in a scalable and cost-competitive manner. 

The JV will focus on upstream and downstream processes, providing scale-up capabilities for cell-based meat production.  

Initially, CMT will begin with the development of the processes and technology needed to showcase cell-based meat fillets, manufactured in a scalable manner, that can translate into a mass production facility. 

CMT will also establish key partnerships to assist with the production of the cultured meat feedstock and supply of its product into the existing supply chain for portioning, packaging and distributing to traditional markets across Europe, the US and Asia. 

Chris Green, CEO of CellRev, said: “Cultivated meat is at the cutting edge of alternative protein production, but as with anything this nascent, the scale-up and cost challenges are existential and only through true collaboration and open innovation will we find the solutions. We have observed the early success of 3D Bio tissues with great interest and believe that by combining our know-how and technology offering, we can offer the market one of the most scalable production platforms currently available.” 

Che Connon, managing director of BSF, said: “The biggest challenge we face in addressing climate change, securing food security and ensuring animal welfare is scaling the production of cultivated meat products for a growing global mass market. This JV with our key partner, CellRev, will combine technological expertise, manufacturing capability and capital allocation to begin producing environmentally sustainable and high-quality meat products for the wholesale market.” 

BSF expects to finalise the legal terms of the JV with CellRev in the coming months.

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