Hampton Creek Working to Produce Lab-Made Meat & Seafood
In what may possibly be the biggest surprise of the year in the plant-based world, Hampton Creek, known for its vegan condiments and as a result of the “Mayo War” with Hellmann’s, has been “secretly developing the technology necessary for producing lab-made meat and seafood,” as reported by Quartz.
As noted by the article, the more surprising aspect of this announcement is that the company “expects to beat its closest competitor [Memphis Meats] to market by more than two years.” Josh Tetrick, CEO of Hampton Creek, stated:
“By the end of next year, we’ll have something out there on the marketplace.”
To reach that goal, the company is looking to partner up with investors while adding “chemists, tissue engineers, stem cell biologists, and more” to its team. While the proposed timeline definitely makes the wait a little easier to bear for those wanting to try “clean meat,” one more aspect sets Hampton Creek’s initiative apart-which will really appeal to vegans: the company is aiming to remove fetal bovine serum as an ingredient and instead replace it with “nutrients coming from plants.”
Hampton Creek is definitely changing things up in the clean/lab-grown/cultured meat world and may just end up getting a spot on our Top 10 Most Innovative Vegan Food Companies list!
Photo Credit: http://thefrux.com/
