Africa’s first cultivated chicken

Original Story Published by: Joalien Katernic, New Food Magazine
Photo Source: Courtesy of New Food Magazine

Earlier this year, Mogale Meat, a South‑African cellular food-tech company established in 2020, brought Africa a world first – a hybrid chicken breast made from cultivated chicken muscle and fat cells, blended into a mushroom matrix.

With Africa’s population rapidly expanding and expected to double in the next 30 years, we’re very quickly outstripping our ability to supply affordable and nutritious food. This move represents the birth of a major new technological drive to produce more essential animal protein for the people of Africa. Cultivated meat has the potential to address food security and add nutritional value without further high-impact agricultural practices that are having devastating effects on the continent’s biodiversity and wildlife.

Mogale Meat’s vision is to make healthy and nutritious cell-based meat accessible to all in Africa, with the aim of conserving Africa’s wildlife heritage and natural resources.

Is lab-grown the answer to sustainable meat?

Over the past few years, more and more consumers have become aware of the impact their meat consumption is having on the environment. As such, there has been a massive movement in the food industry to pivot towards alternative proteins and sustainable meat products.

In order to keep up with consumer demands we have to think outside the box, we need to come up with innovative solutions that will allow consumers not only to have the food products they want, but in a way that is sustainable in the long run.

We simply cannot keep producing meat the way we have been; we also cannot expect all consumers to adopt plant-based diets. I believe cultivated meat is the answer. It is a way for anyone, anywhere in the world to enjoy a piece of steak – a piece of real meat – without harming the environment or any animal in the process.