Omeat, the innovative cultivated meat company that launched out of stealth earlier this year, has successfully reached a significant milestone with the completion of its state-of-the-art pilot plant. This development marks a crucial step towards a sustainable and ethical future for meat production as the company scales towards commercialization.
The 15,000-square-foot pilot plant, located outside of Los Angeles, California, is designed to house bioreactors up to 10,000L in size and has the capacity to produce up to 400 tons of product annually. The new facility is part of Omeat’s unique vertically integrated approach.
Omeat’s Chief Technology Officer Jim Miller explains, “We now have an integrated, farm-to-table supply chain. Omeat’s process begins at our farm with the collection of plasma from Omeat’s herd of Holstein cows. The plasma is transported to the new pilot facility, where it’s used to derive Plenty, Omeat’s affordable and effective proprietary growth factor that replaces the need for Fetal Bovine Serum (FBS). Inside Omeat’s bioreactors, Plenty and bovine cells are combined to produce Omeat ground beef. It’s a breakthrough process for making meat that is pure, delicious, and consistent.”
The opening of Omeat’s pilot plant is a significant step forward in bringing cultivated meat to consumers and addressing the growing demand for more sustainable protein sources. The plant will provide essential data and insights for scaling up production and ensuring that Omeat meets the highest standards for quality, taste, and safety. In addition, the completion of the pilot plant will enable Omeat to demonstrate the intricacies of its process at scale, establishing a clear path for regulatory review and approval.
“Omeat’s pilot plant is a major accomplishment for our company and the industry at large,” said Omeat’s Founder & CEO Ali Khademhosseini, Ph.D. “We continue to push the boundaries for cultivated meat and challenge existing processes. We’re pioneering a very unique farm-to-table approach that enables us to create delicious real meat with a fraction of the resources needed to produce conventional meat. It’s a more humane and sustainable way to satisfy the growing global appetite for meat. We remain confident that at scale, Omeat’s prices will be less than conventional meat, providing accessibility to high-quality protein worldwide.
