The market for lab grown meat in the Netherlands is heating up, with the first ever European tasting for one company and a €40 million investment package for another. 

Mosa Meat announced on Tuesday it had secured a further €40 million in new capital. The company is currently preparing the first formal tastings of its cultivated beef in the Netherlands.

The funding round, which Mosa Meat says was oversubscribed, includes new and existing partners, including the PHW Group, which is one of Europe’s largest poultry producers. 

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, Leiden-based Meatable held the first official testing of its lab-grown pork in Europe, drafting in top chef Ron Blaauw and start-up envoy prince Constantijn to the tasting panel. 

A selected group of tasters were able to bite into the sausage, a combination of 28% lab-grown pork fat and plant-based ingredients.

“It takes some getting used to because you know you are going to eat something different, but it was nice and crispy and tasted just like you’d expect a normal sausage to taste,” said RTL Nieuws reporter Agnes de Goede.

This year, Meatable plans to launch its first products in Singapore, where it has held multiple product tastings following approval from the Singapore Food Agency.

Dutch invention

The first lab-grown meat burger, a Dutch invention, was presented in 2013, but tasting was strictly forbidden. 

Last year, the Netherlands launched a code of practice to make tastings possible in controlled and safe conditions after MPs voted in favour of the move. The Netherlands is one of only a handful that allows tastings globally including Singapore, Israel, and the US. 

There are currently four firms working on developing lab meat in the Netherlands and it is not cheap. Meatable’s Daan Luining told Nu.nl that the sausage eaten on Wednesday would have cost around €100. “We’ve a long way to go to get to €5,” he said.