Flipping the future with Mosa Meat: same tasty burgers, less planetary impact

Conventional meat production demands immense resources: months of labour, more than a thousand litres of water, and large swaths of land to produce a single hamburger (1). Livestock farming is responsible for 14.5% of global greenhouse emissions, and with meat consumption expected to increase by at least 50% by 2050, the environmental strain is unsustainable (2,3). Coupled with the ethical concerns surrounding the slaughter of billions of animals annually, the need for alternatives is urgent. 

Dutch startup Mosa Meat offers a sustainable solution: cultivated beef. Mosa Meat can grow enough beef to produce 80,000 hamburgers in weeks using a small peppercorn-sized sample of cow tissue. This bypasses the environmental toll of traditional farming and eliminates the need for animal slaughter, addressing ethical concerns without sacrificing the taste and texture consumers love. 

The true cost of your burger: livestock’s heavy impact on the planet

Conventional livestock farming requires years of feeding and vast resources to yield fewer than 1,000 hamburgers per cow. Cultivated beef can theoretically produce the same amount of meat while significantly reducing the required land, water and energy resources, and greenhouse emissions. This shift ensures protein production meets the needs of a growing population without devastating natural ecosystems. 

From the world’s first cultivated beef burger to the EU’s first taster session

Mosa Meat made headlines in 2013 with the unveiling of the world’s first cultivated beef burger. At the time, the price of $330,000 to produce just two patties made it clear that there would need to be significant cost reductions before cultivated meat could ever become a real contender. Since then, Mosa Meat has achieved an 80-fold decrease in production costs and has developed breakthroughs like serum-free growth media, which eliminates the reliance on fetal bovine serum (FBS) in production. This method has since been made open-source for use across the agri-food industry.

Scaling production to meet demand has been no small task. Transitioning from lab-scale operations to industrial production demands rigorous quality control and technical refinement. To meet this need, Mosa Meat opened a 2,762 square-metre facility in Maastricht, Netherlands, which is equipped with 1,000-litre bioreactors capable of producing tens of thousands of hamburgers. 

This has put Mosa Meet in a strong position to address other regulatory hurdles. As market entry requires navigating a complex landscape of national and international regulations, Mosa Meat frequently collaborates with policymakers in Europe, North America and Asia to establish clear frameworks for cultivated meat production. This has been key in developing the Netherlands Code of Practice – a key step towards cultivated meat and seafood gaining approval for sale in Europe. As a result of this breakthrough, Mosa Meat conducted the first public tasting of cultivated beef in the EU at its test kitchen in Maastricht in 2024.

Mosa Meat’s collaboration with EIT Food has been instrumental in advancing its mission. Through financial support, strategic guidance and access to a wide network of policymakers, researchers and industry leaders, EIT Food has helped accelerate many of its key developments. Participating in our RisingFoodStars programme helped to refine Mosa Meat’s messaging and product positioning, ensuring alignment with public values and preferences, while participation in global forums such as COP28 amplifies the advocacy for cultivated meat as a cornerstone of climate resilience and protein diversification.

Funded for a food revolution

Consumer acceptance is pivotal to the success of cultivated meat. Mosa Meat prioritises transparency and education as key components in building trust. Early focus groups reveal unexpected enthusiasm among traditional meat consumers and show the clear potential for cultivated meats to become a preferred choice for the sustainability-conscious consumer. 

This enthusiasm has seen support for Mosa Meat’s mission from some surprising places. Traditional meat producers and public institutions, including the Limburg Energy Fund and Invest-NL have backed a successful €40 million funding bid. These partnerships reflect a broader shift in attitudes, where cultivated meat is increasingly viewed as a vital tool for addressing global challenges such as food security, climate change and ethical food production. 

By fostering advancements in cellular agriculture, biotech and food innovation, Mosa Meat is creating opportunities for job creation in emerging industries, which has been essential for encouraging investor confidence. To date, Mosa Meat has secured over €150 million in funding, and as production costs continue to drop, the prospect of reaching price parity with conventional meat grows closer, making sustainable solutions accessible to global markets. 

Mosa Meat’s mission extends beyond innovation to shaping a food system that is equitable, sustainable and resilient. By leveraging science, collaboration, and a commitment to sustainability, they are transforming one of the world’s most resource-intensive industries into a model for efficiency and ethics. The future of food production is here, and Mosa Meat is proving that it’s not just about doing things differently but about making things better for the planet. 

1. UNEP: What’s in your burger? More than you think
2. AO: Tackling climate change through livestock
3. UNEP: Novel meat and dairy alternatives could help curb climate-harming emissions