In this exclusive interview, The Cell Base speaks to Jeff Tripician, chief executive officer of Dutch cultivated pork firm Meatable.

Tripician shares insights on navigating the evolving regulatory landscape, the company's innovative technology and the future of cultivated meat as Meatable works towards commercialisation and global expansion.

How would you describe the regulatory environment for cultivated meat in the Netherlands, and what challenges or opportunities does it present for Meatable?

We are proud to call the Netherlands our home! The regulatory environment in the Netherlands is progressive, but still evolving when it comes to cultivated meat. Our country is a leader in food innovation, and the Dutch government has shown interest in supporting sustainable alternatives to traditional meat production. However, cultivated meat is a novel food, and these are regulated through the European Union.

For Meatable, this presents both challenges and opportunities. On the one hand, navigating the complex regulatory EU landscape requires significant time and resources. On the other hand, the proactive stance of the Dutch government opens opportunities for collaboration. Together with Cellular Agriculture Europe, a coalition of food companies in the space, we are closely working with regulatory bodies throughout the European Union to pave the way for a smooth market entry.

Meatable has developed a unique technology platform. Can you elaborate on how your technology differentiates itself from others in the cultivated meat space?

Meatable’s technology platform is centered around our proprietary opti-ox technology, which allows us to grow the highest quality cultivated meat cost-efficiently and at scale. Combined with the use of pluripotent stem cells (PSCs), the process replicates the natural growth process of the cells and makes it possible to produce real muscle and fat cells, which are the two key ingredients which make meat taste like meat.

The PSCs have the natural ability to keep on multiplying and to do so rapidly. Our technique also allows us to grow many cells in our bioreactors. This is a great step forward as it increases productivity and makes the process easy to scale. By doing it so efficiently, we are able to drive down the costs and work towards producing meat at a competitive price point faster than most of our competitors.

With the €7.6 million RVO Innovation Credit and your recent €30 million Series B funding, what are the next milestones in bringing your cultivated meat products to market?

We are very proud to have received the RVO’s Innovation Credit, as it gives us confidence in the path ahead. These significant investments will be instrumental in accelerating our path to commercialisation. Our immediate next milestones include scaling up our production processes and optimising cost-efficiency to make cultivated meat commercially viable. We are also focused on advancing our product development, particularly for cultivated pork, with the goal of securing regulatory approvals around the world.

You’ve mentioned working as a partner to the traditional meat industry. How do you envision this collaboration shaping the future of meat production?

We feel it is essential to work together with the existing livestock-based meat industry, instead of competing. Therefore, we see ourselves as complementary to the traditional meat industry rather than a replacement. If we really want to make an impact, we cannot do that by ourselves. By partnering with traditional meat producers, we can leverage their deep understanding of consumer preferences, distribution networks and large-scale production.

These partnerships also allow us to bridge the gap between existing meat production methods and future food technologies, accelerating the shift towards more ethical and environmentally-friendly practices. Only together we can meet the growing global demand for meat in a way that benefits both people and the planet.

One of the main challenges in cultivated meat is scaling up production while keeping costs down. How is Meatable tackling this issue, and what role will the RVO Innovation Credit play?

Scaling up production efficiently is one of our top priorities. Meatable’s opti-ox technology allows us to streamline the growth of animal cells, reducing the time and resources needed to produce high-quality cultivated meat. By optimising cell growth and differentiation, we can significantly lower production costs over time.

Speed is an important factor here: As we can now move from cell to sausage in just a few days, we are able to use less resources to produce the same quantity of product, which allows us to keep costs down and make it more accessible to more partners and consumers

What are your thoughts on consumer acceptance of cultivated meat, and how does Meatable plan to position its products to meet both market demand and societal concerns?

We see that consumer acceptance of cultivated meat is growing, particularly as people become more aware of the environmental and ethical challenges associated with traditional meat production. However, consumer education is still key. We are committed to transparency, making sure that people understand how cultivated meat is produced, why it’s safe and how it can benefit both the environment and animal welfare.

We are therefore also glad to be able to organise tastings of our product in Singapore and the Netherlands, to let people experience for themselves that this isn’t like meat, it is meat.

The Netherlands is just one part of your journey. Do you have plans for expanding Meatable’s operations or market reach internationally, and what regions are of key interest?

Yes, we are already planning for international expansion. While the Netherlands provides a strong base for R&D, our long-term vision includes a global presence. We are looking towards places where the regulatory situation is progressive, and where there are partners from the industry for us to work with. This way we can make sure we can scale and really make an impact. Markets like Singapore, which has already approved the sale of cultivated meat, are of key interest to us. The US is another important region, given its large market size and growing interest in alternative proteins.

How does Meatable measure and communicate the environmental and societal benefits of cultivated meat, and what role do you see cultivated meat playing in addressing global food security?

The benefits of cultivated meat are clear: its production requires significantly less land and water than livestock farming, has lower greenhouse gas emissions and requires no animal slaughter. Moreover, it can also play a crucial role in addressing global food security by offering a scalable, sustainable source of nutrition that can be produced locally, reducing reliance on complex and vulnerable supply chains.

There is however a long way to go. We want more people to come to the table, learn, engage and find a path forward that works with, not against, existing food systems. Collectively we can contribute to a more sustainable and secure food system for future generations.

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