The challenges posed by climate change, increasingly depleted resources, and a growing global population expected to exceed 10 billion people by 2050 require a reimagination of our food system. Sustainable food cultivation is key in meeting these challenges. Increased global customer demand for sustainably and ethically produced healthy, and tasty food products further substantiates the need for change.
The joint venture established between Givaudan, Bühler, and Migros intends to provide answers to some of the most pressing issues concerning the food industry. The aim of the self-sustained enterprise, which is wholly owned by Givaudan, Bühler, and Migros, is to provide other companies with facilities, technology, and expertise to support the scale-up of cultured meats, cultured fish, and seafood, as well as precision fermentation products.
Equipped with a product development lab, cell culture, and fermentation capabilities, The Cultured Hub will help start-ups to develop market-ready products, accelerating our journey to readily available, sustainable, healthy, and affordable meat.
“We have broken ground on the future home for cultured food in the heart of Europe in Kemptthal, Switzerland. We have received the necessary approvals to form the joint venture and we have a Managing Director in place and are on track to be helping companies scale from early 2023. The first companies are booking time and facilities,” says Ian Roberts, CTO at Bühler Group.
Today’s world, as most of us are already feeling, has changed dramatically. It is ever more important and increasingly urgent that our food system adapts to ensure we have access to affordable, nutritious, and healthy food for our growing population.
“The Hub can enable start-ups to eliminate funding rounds to build small-scale facilities, thus avoiding equity dilution. Furthermore, given the pressure on global supply chains, this means we can provide a ready-made solution that becomes delivery-time independent,” says Roberts.
In cellular agriculture, tissues are engineered outside of animal bodies. The process and technologies allow the creation of meat and seafood in a controlled environment from small cell samples. The derived product benefits from an identical structure and taste to animal meat without the negative environmental impact and the need for ethically problematic livestock farming, mass meat production, and slaughter.
All three companies have shown a strong commitment to sustainability. Their combined exceptional knowledge accelerates the development of a more sustainable food system and enables market penetration of high-quality alternative food products.
“Givaudan brings in a wealth of knowledge in every aspect of taste and the development of meat alternatives and exceptional expertise in biotechnology and product development. Bühler contributes with industry-leading solutions applied in the scale-up and production of thousands of food products on a global level, while Migros is known for its strong competence in customer interaction and the cultivation of markets,” says Fabio Campanile, Global Head of Science and Technology, Taste and Wellbeing at Givaudan.
Switzerland plays an important role in the evolution of cellular agriculture products. “We see Switzerland as the gateway to Europe when it comes to the development of cultured foods. The location of The Cultured Hub is ideal for this exciting pioneering venture. We can now start building the necessary infrastructure and acquiring clients,” says Matthew Robin, CEO, ELSA-Mifroma Group at Migros Industries.
Yannick Gächter, who currently leads the project, will introduce The Cultured Hub at the Bühler Networking Days 2022 customer event held on June 27-28. Gächter will lead The Cultured Hub after its formation as Managing Director. Yannick Gächter says: “With the launch date coming closer we are excited to make an important contribution towards the planet’s future sustainable food system.”
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