Dutch scaleup Mosa Meat, the maker of the “world’s kindest burger,” has submitted its first request to sell cultivated meat in the EU. 

Cultivated or “lab-grown” meat is made by harvesting animal cells and growing them in a high-tech bioreactor filled with a nutrient-packed broth. The result? Real meat minus the slaughterhouses and climate-heating emissions. 

Singapore, the US, and most recently Israel are the only countries that have approved sales of cultivated meat for human consumption. The UK has also rubber-stamped one lab-grown treat — but that’s only for pets. While the Netherlands approved tastings in 2023, selling lab-grown remains illegal across the EU.  

In a bid to open its home market, Mosa Meat has submitted a “novel foods” application to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). It is the second cultivated meat company ever to do so. The first was French startup Gourmey last year for its lab-grown foie gras.   

Mosa will now patiently await the verdict — very patiently. The approval process will take at least one and a half years. 

To add insult to injury, the EU’s regulatory process requires ingredients to be submitted individually. This forced Mosa to deconstruct its burger. It decided to start with cultivated fat — the juiciest bit. After that, the company will work on getting the green light for the muscle component.

In the meantime, Mosa plans to blend the cultivated fat with plant-based ingredients to create beefy foods like hamburgers, meatballs, empanadas, or bolognese. It’s a departure from the 100% lab-grown meat the company first promised us. Nevertheless, it’s a quicker route to market.

“By starting with cultivated fat, we’re paving the way to introduce our first burgers to consumers while staying true to our long-term vision,” said Maarten Bosch, CEO of Mosa Meat. “Our initial products will combine cultivated and plant-based ingredients, leveraging our in-house expertise in both areas.” 

Mosa held the first tastings of its cultivated burgers in the Netherlands last year, just months after competitor Meatable hosted the first legally approved tasting of cultivated meat in Europe.  

In April, Mosa secured €40mn in funding, bringing its total raised to $147mn. Despite strong backing, the company, and others like it, still face a long road ahead.

Unlike plant-based meats, pioneered by brands like Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat, cultivated meat has struggled to get off the ground after an initial wave of enthusiasm. It is still expensive to produce and regulatory roadblocks have cooled investment. 

“Cultivated meat is still a relatively new field, so it’s natural to see early challenges, whether that’s regulatory complexity, high initial production costs, or securing long-term investment,” Bosch told TNW. 

“We believe the best way to overcome these hurdles is through a combination of scientific rigour, strategic partnerships and a focus on scaling up production efficiently.”

Despite the challenges, startups like Mosa are pushing through, convinced that cultivated meat offers consumers an attractive alternative to plant-based meat or regular animal-sourced steak, ribs, or wings. 

“We don’t see our cultivated burgers as just competing with plant-based alternatives,” said Bosch. “We see cultivated meat as an additional option for consumers who appreciate the culinary experience of meat and want to make a meaningful change without giving up what they love.”