Future Meat produces first cultivated lamb

The company plans to scale up production at a new facility in preparation for entering the US market.

Cultivated meat company Future Meat Technologies has announced that it has produced its first cultivated lamb, which it claims looks, cooks, and tastes like conventional ground lamb meat, the Israeli business news website Globes reports.  

"The European Union is the world’s largest lamb consumer, and lamb is the primary meat source for numerous countries across the Middle East, Northern Africa, and parts of Asia. Reaching this milestone with ovine cell lines means the company can now produce cultivated lamb at scale and accelerate its innovation focus to expanding into even more animal species," the announcement said.

Future Meat’s development of cultivated lamb started in 2019 with fibroblast cells isolated from Awassi sheep, generating two independent ovine cell lines, that divide indefinitely.

"Future Meat is the first company to remove Fetal Bovine Serum, and all other animal components, from its growth media," said Prof. Yaakov Nahmias, president, founder and chief science officer of Future Meat Technologies. "Future Meat’s approach leans on the natural spontaneous immortalization of fibroblasts, rather than genetic modification. This is the key to Future Meat’s cells being non-GMO."

In preparation for entering the US market, Future Meat plans to scale up production of its cultivated meat products, including lamb and chicken, at its new production facility, which is expected to break ground in 2022.