Cultivated Meat – A Potential Wildlife Game Changer

Fibroblasts, myoblasts and adipocytes are cultured from a small biopsies taken from a young animal. The cells are matured into muscle and fat cells and combined to form ground meat or whole-cut meat products. For the planet, and more specifically for southern Africa’s wildlife and biodiversity conservation, cultivated meat is a potential game changer. Additional natural habitat does not have to be ploughed-up for crop production to feed more factory-farm cattle needed to satisfy the increasing human populations demand for meat.
Cultivated meat R&D requires a multidisciplinary team approach involving professionals in veterinary science, bioengineering, bioprocessing, bio-medical, biotechnology and food science, animal production, environmental science and government agencies. Mogale Meat Co has cryopreserved over 700 cell cultures derived from game species as a resource for scientists from the Tshwane University of Technology and the University of Kwazulu Natal to develop the required technologies to make the production of cultivated meat a reality in southern Africa.