Netherlands Provides Europe’s First Cultivated Meat Sausage Awaiting Official Regulatory Approval

The following report is by Forbes (excerpts):

It is not news that cultivated meat isn’t yet approved in Europe, yet we are here at the Dutch food tech company Meatable in the city of Leiden, munching tiny bits of sausage produced in their lab in a few meters away.

For the first time on European Union soil, a first pre-approval cultured meat tasting takes place in the EU country where scientists have pioneered the frontiers of biotech since the early 2010s, waiting for this moment for a long time.

Krijn de Nood, founder and CEO of Meatable says, however, this should be remembered as ‘an ordinary day, eating an ordinary pork sausage’, warning us this experience might be underwhelming: this is just regular meat, made in a lab.

The hybrid sausage we taste contains 28% cultivated pork fat, while the rest of the ingredients are plant-based: it is tender as we sample them just after they’ve sizzled in the pan in the office’s kitchen.

But for the team members it is a crucial moment: “We are incredibly proud to host the first official cultivated meat tasting in the European Union, marking a landmark moment for Meatable and our industry. (…) We now have the opportunity to verify those findings and further optimize our product before mass-market entry,” said Krijn de Nood, founder and CEO of Meatable during the event.

The cultured meat sausage was already sampled by not more than 50 people in Singapore, as the company is seeking product approval in the Asian country. But for Meatable, holding a tasting in their birthplace is something else: “It is a big moment as this represents five years of our work,” de Nood said.

The cells used to produce their cultivated products are not extracted from live animals, rather they derive from the fertilization of sow’s eggs. Meatable’s patented opti-ox™ technology enables these pig embryonic stem cells, to grown in conditions that allow them to expand to large numbers rapidly and without harming animals.


In March 2023, the company affirmed that their differentiation production process of high-quality fat and muscle tissue can be carried from eight days down to four, a faster process than any other companies in the industry.

The cells that brew in the lab’s fermentors are fed with a nutrient medium, and when they reach the correct size, the white-colored substance is collected and stored, before it is combined with the plant-based ingredient.

During the tasting, we trialed fully plant-based sausages to compare them to the sample with the cultivated pork fat. As de Nood told us, we shouldn’t be surprised it tastes like pork, which it really did.

It’s animalistic specificity. There’s the reason why you can taste the difference between pigs and cows. For pigs, most of its taste comes from the fat fraction.

says Luining to my suprise, as we did the tastings together.

The pork meat taste remained quite strongly in the mouth after having sampled it, but it did not feel unpleasent or artificial. What made the product sounds realistic was that, despite pork fat being just one third of the total product, the flavour of other ingredients could not be identified.

Luining do not hide the fact that the impossibility to taste cultured meat delayed their product development phase – and the ones of other companies – which in the last year could only be carried in Singapore.

Although he admits that ‘cultivated meat won’t show up massively on the radar in the next decade and consumers acceptance could be built up slowly through tastings: “This will be a gradual process (…) people will understand that this is just another option in the supermarket.” he said.

Like many European novel food companies, Meatable is planning to launch in Singapore, where the approval process is quicker and more efficient. The company submitted already its dossier and Luining said that ‘any time soon’ they could receive an answer from the Singapore Food Agency.

So far, only poultry-based cultivated meat products are accessible to consumers both in Singapore and in the U.S.. The latest addition to the realm of on-the-market products in Singapore is a quail-based cultivated meat product from the Australian company Vow.

When the U.S. approved the Inflation Reduction Act which facilitates biotech companies, European firms started looking at this new market, complaining about the limited support received in the EU. But Luining said this is just a fraction of the issue: “(The U.S.) It’s a very big single market. It’s one of the biggest meat consuming markets in the world. And there’s very good infrastructure there.” says Luining.

That is the predominant reason why Meatable will try to enter the American market, before looking into other regions from 2026: “We didn’t abandon Europe, we just need to make sure that we have enough traction to convince people to help us with the next phase,” Luining said.

Aside from achieving a greater degree of animal welfare as no animals are killed to produce it, cultivated meat has been associated to increased emission reductions.

---

AUTHOR COMMENTARY

[1] Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; [2] Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; [3] Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.

1 Timothy 4:1-3

The hypocrisy with this nonsense never ceases to amaze – all the time, money, labor, and technology needed to be a disgusting, unhealthy replica of the real thing is a sight to behold that all we can do is just laugh it, even if it is Bible prophecy coming to pass.

---

[7] Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? [8] Say I these things as a man? or saith not the law the same also? [9] For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen? [10] Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope. (1 Corinthians 9:7-10).

The WinePress needs your support! If God has laid it on your heart to want to contribute, please prayerfully consider donating to this ministry. If you cannot gift a monetary donation, then please donate your fervent prayers to keep this ministry going! Thank you and may God bless you.

CLICK HERE TO DONATE