Nutreco has officially opened the ‘world’s first’ dedicated food-grade powder production facility for cell feed at Nutreco in Boxmeer, The Netherlands.

Nutreco CEO David Blakemore said: “We recognise the possibilities in cultivated protein and think this industry holds tremendous potential. One of the biggest challenges it faces though is how to feed the protein cells cost-efficiently, sustainably and at very large scale. At Nutreco, we believe we can create cell culture media with a lower cost and enable the industry to scale up and bring to the masses something that is currently only available to a limited few.”

Emeline Fellus, senior director of agriculture and food at the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, commented: “Our current agri-food systems were designed to deliver affordable, accessible and safe food to a growing global population. However, the system built to maximise efficiency and caloric supply regardless of resources use no longer fits the values or challenges of the 21st century.”

“As our planet faces increasing environmental pressures, the approach to protein sourcing and consumption must change. We need a balanced approach – one that diversifies the proteins we source, makes traditional animal protein production more environmentally friendly, and diversifies consumption towards alternatives with a lower impact on nature while ensuring we meet demand.”

Fellus acknowledged the potential challenges for the alt-protein space, including the need for global and international regulations and policies to support the transition, as well as bringing in consumers and ensuring a just transition for farmers.

Over 50 delegates from the cell-cultured protein industry came together yesterday for the centre’s official opening.

Attendees also heard from Nutreco partners Lou Cooperhouse, founder, president and CEO of BlueNalu, Maarten Bosch, CEO of Mosa Meat and Ernst van Orsouw, CEO of Roslin Technologies. Industry experts discussed areas of bridging innovation from aquaculture to cell feed, feeding cells from the farm to the bioreactor and ultra-speciality ingredient discovery and production.

Attendees were given a tour of the new facility and Masterlab, Nutreco’s global laboratory in animal feed and premix analysis. The facility was first announced in August this year.

#Nutreco #theNetherlands #cellfeed