Meatable and Love Handle Are Developing Meat Made From Plants and Cell Cultures

Cultivated meat brand Meatable has announced a ‘Future of Meat’ innovation center in partnership with plant-based meat brand Love Handle in an effort to bring the two sectors together to co-create the future of food.

Would you eat vegan food that contained cell-cultured meat along with plants? That’s the hope of Dutch cultivated meat company, Meatable, and Asia’s first plant-based butcher, Love Handle, as the two companies chart a new course for meat with their hybrid product innovation center coming to Singapore.

The new Future of Meat center was fostered by the Singapore Economic Development Board, a government agency supporting the alternative protein sectors. The center is slated to open next year, with more than $6 million earmarked for development. It will mark the world’s first kitchen and lab dedicated to hybrid product development.

Is hybrid protein the future of meat?

“We’re delighted to announce this partnership with Love Handle to build the world’s first innovation center for hybrid cultivated meat products,” Krijn de Nood, co-founder and CEO of Meatable, said in a statement.

“Together we’re going to spearhead the development of hybrid products for the Singapore and global markets and help foster innovation among other alternative protein producers. Our vision is to satisfy the world’s growing appetite for meat without harming the environment, animals or people.”

“The new innovation center we’re setting up with Meatable will help us develop new hybrid and plant-based meat products as well as provide a space for existing plant-based players to further drive innovation in the food industry,” Ken Kuguru, co-founder and CEO of Love Handle, said. “We’re looking forward to working closely with Meatable and for consumers to be able to try these new and exciting products as early as next year.”

The new center announcement follows Meatable’s recent partnership with ESCO Aster, the only production facility that has regulatory approval for producing cultivated meat. The two are working together to bring Meatable’s cultivated pork to Singapore, which is currently the only country that has approved the sale of cell-based meat.

The new center will include bespoke equipment, the companies say; they will help to develop the protein made from the two different technologies. It will also include a space for consumer tastings and events as well as a retail space to purchase the hybrid meat products.

Moving the needle on consumer perceptions

Caroline Wilschut, Chief Commercial Officer at Meatable, told Green Queen via email that the center is going to be “an incredible environment for innovation and creativity to solve some of the meat industry’s most pressing challenges.”

Wilschut says the partnership is part of a broader expansion strategy in Singapore. Meatable is expected to invest up to €60 million over the next five years and employ more than 50 people in the country.

“By localizing the value chain, we can increase the positive impact we can have as a business and contribute to the development of the cultivated meat industry as a whole,” she said. 

“If we want to move the needle on how people think about meat in their diets, then we need to have a space to come together, innovate and develop the delicious products of the future,” Kuguru told Green Queen.

“By combining our knowledge and experience, we’re going to create amazing products for people to enjoy at home and in restaurants,” he said, “while simultaneously creating an open-innovation ecosystem to collaborate with next-gen businesses intent on creating alternative protein innovations.”  

Lead image: Caroline Wilschut, Chief Commercial Officer of Meatable and Ken Kuguru, co-founder and CEO of Love Handle; courtesy Love Handle.