Good Meat Partners With ABEC to Build the Largest Cultivated Meat Bioreactors

Good Meat, the Eat Just division focused on cultivated meat, has partnered with ABEC on a multi-year agreement to boost its production of cell-based protein.

ABEC, which has been making bioreactors since the 1980s, will help Good Meat develop the “largest known” bioreactors for cell culture production of bird and mammal meat, the company said in a statement.

Currently, Good Meat is the only company with cultivated meat on the market. It received regulatory approval in Singapore in 2020 for its cell-based chicken, and has partnered with several food service providers on distribution in the years since.

Scaling cultivated meat

According to Good Meat, the ABEC development will allow it to bring online ten 250,000-liter bioreactors. “When fully operational, the complex will have the capacity to produce up to 30 million pounds of meat without the need to slaughter a single animal,” the company said.

Good Meat says chicken and beef are up first, which it says it can distribute to “millions” of customers across the country once there’s regulatory approval in the U.S., which could be anywhere from 18 to 24 months.

“Our first step was receiving regulatory approval and launching in Singapore. Our second step has been selling to customers through restaurants, street vendors, and delivery platforms. We’ve learned that consumers want this, and we’re ready to take the next step to make this happen at commercial scale. I am very proud to partner with the ABEC team to make this historic facility happen,” said Josh Tetrick, co-founder and CEO of Eat Just.

ABEC is also designing bioreactors for Good Meat’s headquarters in Alameda, California, which is expected to be operational before the end of the year. It’s also working to develop a facility in Singapore early next year to help meet the demand in the region.

Innovating in the protein industry

“We are proud that our capabilities will help enable this exciting new industry. We look forward to continuing our tradition of innovation and supporting Good Meat’s success,” said Scott Pickering, CEO and Chairperson of ABEC.

“I think our grandchildren are going to ask us about why we ate meat from slaughtered animals back in 2022,” Tetrick said.

“Cultivated meat matters because it will enable us to eat meat without all the harm, without bulldozing forests, without the need to slaughter an animal, without the need to use antibiotics, without accelerating zoonotic diseases,” he said.

“The bioreactors will be far and away the largest, not only in the cultivated meat industry, but in the biopharma industry too,” Tetrick said.

“So the design and engineering challenges are significant, the capital investments are significant and the potential to take another step toward shifting society away from slaughtered meat is significant.”

Photos: courtesy Eat Just