Major grant boost for new field of cellular agriculture

On 21 October 2022, a government grant worth €60 million was awarded for an ambitious proposal in the field of cellular agriculture, a young discipline that aims to produce animal products such as meat and proteins directly from animal cells and microorganisms. The financial support - the largest grant ever provided for cellular agriculture by a national government - is from the National Growth Fund. The plan was submitted by the Cellular Agriculture Netherlands Foundation (CANS) in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality (LNV). Prof. Marcel Ottens, CANS board member and group leader in the TU Delft BioProcess Engineering research section, was among the founding fathers of the proposal. Did you uncork the champagne when you heard of the decision? - "There was a press conference announcing the provisional grant awards in April 2022. At the time, we had a board meeting and didn't yet know if we were among the lucky ones. When that turned out to be the case, we did open a bottle of champagne, yes. It's incredibly gratifying that our proposal has been successful, because it involved a huge amount of work. I think it's wonderful news for the sector as a whole." Most people are familiar with cellular agriculture from cultured meat: very expensive meat grown from animal stem cells that does not require animal slaughter. "Cultured meat, also known as clean meat, probably appeals to the imagination the most. But it's only half the story. We will also be working on precision fermentation, which involves microorganisms producing proteins as food for people or animals. This is part of what's referred to as the protein transition, which will be essential for the sustainable food chain of the future." What challenges will you be taking on?