Finnish company Synbio Powerlabs to launch cultivated meat production in Lappeenranta by year’s end

Alejandro Antalich, chairman of Finnish biotechnology company Synbio Powerlabs, recently sampled conventional ground beef and expressed confidence in cultivated meat, stating that there is no discernible difference between the two. “I tried it in Oxford, and in a blind test, I couldn’t tell real meat from cultivated meat,” he affirmed.

Antalich is referring to the Angus beef cultivated by British firm Ivy Farm. Synbio Powerlabs plans to launch the production of this cultivated meat in Lappeenranta by the end of this year. The company is expanding its facility to accommodate large bioreactors necessary for this endeavor.

According to Antalich, Ivy Farm has successfully replicated even the natural structure of meat in its cultivated products. He also emphasized the nutritional quality of cultivated meat, as it is grown in controlled environments. The cultivated meat production involves cell-culturing animal muscle and fat cells in bioreactors.

By late next year, Synbio Powerlabs aims to ramp up its production to tens of tonnes annually, potentially becoming the largest facility of its kind in the world. So far, Ivy Farm has only produced cultivated meat on a small scale, with a few hundred kilograms made. In Lappeenranta, the company intends to approach mass production, targeting up to 100 tonnes per year.

Initially, the cultivated meat will not be available in Finland, as the European Union has yet to approve regulations for its sale. Antalich revealed that exports to the Middle East are planned, where regulatory frameworks may allow for its sale. However, challenges in global production, including technical issues and high costs, have been encountered. Currently, cultivated meat has primarily entered markets in the U.S. and Singapore, primarily in small, expensive quantities.