117: Are we ready for lab grown meat?
Cellular or lab-grown meat is being touted as one of the greatest solutions to environmental and food system challenges. It allows people to enjoy the taste of meat, but without harming animals or increasing the carbon footprint. But how do you convince people to put down the hamburger and pick up the slaughter-free steak? Guests: Che Connon, Co-founder and CEO, 3D Bio-Tissues Ltd Alongside being CEO of 3D Bio-Tissues, I am also Professor of Tissue Engineering at Newcastle University and co-founder of CellulaREvolution which aims to solve critical issues in scale up of cultured meat. Didier Toubia, Co-Founder & CEO of Aleph Farms Didier Toubia is the Co-Founder and CEO of Aleph Farms, a cultivated meat company that is shaping the future of food by growing slaughter-free beef steaks directly from cow cells, preserving natural resources, and avoiding the use of antibiotics. Prior to Aleph Farms, Didier co-founded and led IceCure, which went public in 2010, and served as the CEO of NLT Spine, which was acquired by SeaSpine in 2016. Didier was trained as a Food Engineer and Biologist and holds a joint executive MBA from Kellogg and Recanati. He is also co-Founder of BlueTree and Yeap. Peter Verstrate, Co-Founder & Chief Operating Officer, Mosa Meat Peter is the food technician behind the world’s first slaughter-free hamburger. He has worked in the processed meat industry for over 20 years in various senior positions ranging from R&D to QA to Operations. He beings a deep knowledge of the meat business developed at international food companies including Sara Lee, Ahold, Smithfield, Campofrio Food Group and Jack Links. He also served as Managing Director of Hulshof Protein Technologies, a leading producer of collage proteins. Peter holds a Master’s in Food Science from Wageningen University. He is passionate about the environment and food security, and highly driven to find a sustainable way to feed the world. Peter co-founded Mosa Meat and as COO is focused on developing an affordable process for high volume production of cultured meat.