Cultivated meat maker Believer and engineering firm GEA, which makes food industry production-scale equipment, have joined forces to produce larger volumes of cheaper and sustainable cultivated meat.
The strategic partnership will see the companies work on upscaling cultivated meat, starting with chicken and then other products.
According to GEA, the duo will drive advancements in bioreactor technology, perfusion systems, and media rejuvenation.
The companies aim to improve the environmental credentials of cultivated meat by paying attention to water and power consumption. Furthermore, they will use circular economy initiatives like waste stream utilisation.
Production costs will be lowered by streamlining technology, transferring and scaling operations.
GEA will develop and commission proprietary bioreactors for Believer’s cell-cultivation technology. Believer’s centrifuge-based perfusion and cell media rejuvenation process for cell lines is a key part of the process. According to GEA, the process is able to save water, nutrients and resources by removing by-products and enabling cell culture media to be reused.
GEA and Believer Meats will further collaborate on improving processes, optimising equipment, and scaling innovations to support eventual large-scale cultivated meat production.
“Believer is on track to overcome the biggest obstacles to scalability. By partnering with GEA – one of the world's foremost engineering and biotech equipment manufacturers – we are taking the next step in innovating state-of-the-art technology and process engineering capabilities needed to produce cultivated meat products at the right cost,” said Gustavo Burger, CEO of Believer.
“The partnership with GEA will help maximize production yields efficiently and sustainably, which are top priorities for Believer. The cultivated meat industry is forging a new path that has never been traveled. We are thrilled to partner with GEA and are very optimistic about the future.”
“With the global population expected to reach 10 billion by 2050, there is a clear need to feed more people using fewer resources,” said Stefan Klebert, CEO of GEA.
“We share Believer’s vision that cell cultivation technology is the key to making safe, healthy meat broadly available and affordable. We are excited to partner with Believer in the development and scale-up of their operations – a collaboration aligned with our purpose: ‘Engineering for a better world.’”
Alongside its partnership with GEA, Believer is currently constructing the world’s largest cultivated meat plant, located in North Carolina, US. The plant will, according to GEA, be able to process 12,000 tonnes of cultivated chicken each year. It is set to be operational at the beginning of 2025.
How the partnership could boost upscaling
In many ways, upscaling and sustainability go hand in hand. "GEA’s ultimate goal is to minimize the utility footprint of cultivated meat production, creating facilities that set new standards for sustainability in the food industry. We believe that by reducing resource consumption and promoting circular economy practices, we can make a tangible contribution to the long-term environmental viability of cultivated meat production," GEA's project director for the division of liquid and power technologies, Roberto Martínez, told FoodNavigator.
Believer Meats' facility in the US, according to Martínez, is a snapshot into the future. "The facility in Wilson, North Carolina, will serve as a blueprint for future industrial-scale operations. It’s where we will refine and perfect the process, establishing a model that can be replicated at other sites worldwide. By leveraging GEA’s expertise in designing and operating large-scale food production systems, Believer Meats will be well-positioned to upscale their cultivated meat production efficiently and cost-effectively, without compromising on sustainability or quality."
