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FREMONT, CA: Cargill marks its latest foray by investing in a cell-based cultured meat company. Cargill, one of the world’s largest meat producers, has invested in the new protein segment.
In 2017, the company had invested in Memphis Meats, a cultured meat company producing cell-cultured meatballs and chicken strips. Their latest investment in Aleph Farms shows that Cargill is ramping up its efforts to develop this sector, proving to be an example for more big meat companies to follow the same path. Many other food institutes have commended the move for investing in a cell-based meat industry as it is at the beginning of significant growth.
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The $12 million in funding round enhances Aleph’s numbers and makes the startup one of the major cell-based meat companies on a global scale. Since its foundation in 2017, and the company has attracted investors from the U.S. and European Venture Capitalists and has received assistance from the Israel Institute of Technology and The Kitchen. The new investment by Cargill will encourage Aleph to begin business plans towards the growth of consumer products within three to five years, as the company is working on and has produced only prototype steaks as a proof-of-concept.
The investments have arrived as the Food and Agricultural Organization of United Nations has found in a study that meat consumption is predicted to double by 2050, which is promising news for the industry but, it is a threat to the planet. The pressure to meet the demands will be hard-pressed, and to accommodate such a scale of production is strenuous, considering the climate change. The cell-cultured meat presents an alternative for the meat lovers to satisfy their cravings all while being ecologically sustainable.
Although many consumers have expressed their distress about lab-grown meat, a study reveals that 40 percent of the Americans are willing to give it a chance. The current consumer uncertainty, the prospect of disturbing a $200 billion meat industry, with the creation of identical looking, and tasting meat products grown in labs have been found worthy of investment by the companies as it is more sustainable. With each year, the investments are growing bigger and better.
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