A group of researchers have developed what they believe is Africa’s first lab-grown chicken meat.

They have cultivated a chicken-breast prototype, using an advanced cell-culture process which was developed over eight months.

The process involves extracting cells from a living animal and growing them in a laboratory. The project by the MeatOurFuture (MOF) consortium is a semi-finalist in the global US$15 million XPrize Feed the Next Billion competition, which provides incentives for producing chicken or fish alternatives that outperform conventional meats in terms of access to food, environmental sustainability, animal welfare and nutrition.

The MOF comprises researchers from South Africa’s University of KwaZulu-Natal and the Tshwane University of Technology, in collaboration with cellular food-technology company Mogale Meat and non-profit Cryowild. It is the competition’s only semi-finalist from Africa.

According to Protein Report, the consortium aims to contribute to global efforts to improve food security and mitigate the environmental impact of typical meat production. It also plans to develop a framework to train scientists, engineers and food technologists to promote cell-cultured meat technologies in Africa.

26 April 2022
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