South African cultivated meat company Mzansi Meat Co. has unveiled the continent’ first lab-grown beef burger – a development described as a massive milestone for the brand and a breakthrough for food security in Africa.
The burger was prepared at a bespoke event in Cape Town this week where co-founders Brett Thompson and Tasneem Karodia, together with the head of taste, Absie Pantshwa, had a bite of the burger alongside Alderman James Vos, Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Growth at the City of Cape Town.
From startup to scale up
Now that the first burger has been developed, Mzansi Meat Co’s next step is scaling up. “Cellular agriculture wasn’t an industry in Africa until Mzansi was born. Our burger is only the beginning, we now know it’s possible and the next step is scaling up,” Thompson explains. “It starts with one small beef burger and we aim to be producing tons of cultivated meat every month in the future.”
