South African startup Mogale Meats wants to make sustainable cultivated meat a reality in the country. With its BioBank of over 500 cell samples from antelope and cattle, it could make climate-friendly meat available to consumers, and help to solve the region’s malnutrition and food security problems.
Growing meat directly from cells reduces the need to raise livestock, a carbon-intensive process, which is beneficial for the environment. The startup is currently building a platform using its library of cell samples from free-roaming livestock and wild antelope native to the region. So far, Mogale’s proprietary BioBank contains more than 500 cryopreserved cell samples, all derived from wild antelope and free-roaming cattle. Founder and CEO Dr. Paul Bartels is a wildlife veterinarian and industry veteran in the biobanking and cell-culture sector.
“Southern Africa is plagued by undernutrition, including stunting, wasting, underweight and micronutrient deficiencies. Meat, and more specifically cell-cultured meat, can provide some of the essential nutrient requirements,” says Bartels. “Cell culture meat derived from African antelope is a lean, healthier meat as compared to meat derived from livestock species.”
CULT Food Science, a Canadian investment platform focused on cell-based solutions, invested capital in Mogale last month, destined for the startup’s BioBank expansion. Other investors include Sustainable Food Ventures.
Mogale is also focused on cultivating species of antelope to preserve African wildlife heritage. While beef, poultry and pork are the main types of meat most commonly consumed globally, game meats like antelope feature heavily on South African plates. Kudu, an African antelope, is said to be the best-tasting game meat in the world and is served as a steak or cured biltong meat. Cultivating meat from antelope would also set Mogale apart from other cell-based meats.
So far, only cultured chicken has received approval from Singapore authorities to be sold on the market, developed by San Francisco food tech Eat Just. Other startups using cell lines from not-so-common species, include Australia-based Vow, culturing kangaroo and other exotic meats, and California’s Orbillion Bio, developing premium heritage elk and lamb. Within South Africa’s cell-based industry, there’s Mzansi Meat, currently focused on beef, and cultivated seafood startup Sea-Stematic.
“Our strategy is two-fold, namely to focus on the meat from antelope (venison), which is a lean and healthy nutritious meat,” says Dr. Bartels. “Secondly, the variety of antelope species will allow us to produce novel foods, differing in taste and texture.”
