Two new cellular agriculture scale-up facilities have opened in the Netherlands, as the country works to strengthen its position as a global leader in the sector and invest in the future of food.
The facilities have been developed through a collaboration between several organisations — the Cellular Agriculture Netherlands Foundation (CAN), Biotechnology Fermentation Factory Ede (BFF), NIZO Food Research, Cultivate at Scale (CaS), Mosa Meat, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Nature (LVVN) and the Dutch government’s National Growth Fund (NGF).
Biotechnology Fermentation Factory
Located in Ede, this facility has been set up in partnership with NIZO and focuses on precision fermentation. It offers a direct connection to NIZO’s existing food-grade DSP pilot plant and food application research.
“We are incredibly excited about the establishment of this new scale-up facility at the NIZO site,” said Nikolaas Vles, CEO of NIZO. “Our combined food-grade upstream and downstream pilot facilities, state-of-the-art laboratories, and scaling infrastructure offer unparalleled opportunities to accelerate the protein transition and realise our ambitions for better food and health.”
Cultivate at Scale
This facility is located in Maastricht and is an independent spin-out of Mosa Meat, focused on cell culture bioprocesses. It is run by an experienced team that has successfully managed production batches for multiple cellular agriculture companies.
The production environment is said to have advanced Quality Control processes in place, which have previously supported the creation of multiple Novel Foods submission dossiers. Its operations are reportedly supported by world-class suppliers of cell feed, cell lines, and bioreactors.
“I am thrilled to announce the launch of Cultivate at Scale, a new independent, open-access scale-up facility dedicated to advancing cell culture bioprocesses,” said Jaco van der Merwe, Managing Director of Cultivate at Scale. “This groundbreaking initiative, made possible by the financial support of the Dutch government, Mosa Meat’s expertise in cultivated meat production, and the collaboration of partners across the cellular agriculture ecosystem, represents a major step forward for our industry. Together with our dedicated team, we look forward to helping companies bridge the gap from research to scalable production, accelerating the global transition to sustainable and innovative food systems.”
Future-proofing food systems
The facilities will provide cell culture and precision fermentation companies with essential infrastructure to scale up their R&D and production processes. This will remove the need for companies to have their own expensive pilot-scale production infrastructure, enabling them to accelerate the commercialisation process.
The launch comes after the Netherlands became the first European country to allow cultivated meat and seafood tastings in 2023.
“After years of preparations, we’re now thrilled to announce these scale-up facilities, which are crucial for advancing cellular agriculture in the Netherlands and globally,” said Maresa Oosterman, Chair of the Cellular Agriculture Netherlands Foundation. “In the past years, we have enabled cellular agriculture research programmes at universities and educational programmes to train the workforce. This scale-up collaboration is another powerful example of how we are driving innovation in food production. By scaling up precision fermentation and cell culture, we can diversify our protein sources and future-proof our food systems.”
