A renowned ranch in Japan known for its Wagyu genetics has partnered with a cell-cultured meat company in California to create lab-grown Wagyu beef.
Toriyama Ranch and JUST, Inc. made an official announcement earlier in December of the first of its kind partnership for a farm to provide genetic material to a cell-cultured meat company. Cells from Wagyu beef steaks and even cattle provided by Toriyama Ranch will be made exclusively available to JUST.
The plan is to start out with cell-cultured Wagyu ground beef hamburgers that can be marketed to a wider audience.
“The point is to deliver deliciousness to everyone,” says Wataru Toriyama, owner of the Toriyama Ranch and vice-president of the Toriyama Farming and Food Co., Ltd.
Toriyama Ranch is family owned and has been breeding Wagyu cattle in Japan for three generations.
San Francisco-based JUST, formerly known as Hampton Creek, is a food manufacturing startup that has created such products as eggless-mayonnaise and plant-based egg alternatives.
“We’re gonna make a damn burger and it’s going to taste like a Wagyu burger from Japan,” says Josh Tetrick, CEO of JUST.
Also partnering in the deal is meat and seafood exporter Awano Food Group.
“I’ve been in the meat industry for 30 years now,” says Awano executive Rod Martin. “I think JUST’s way of thinking about the products of the future is how the world will consume protein within 20 years.”
The topic of lab-grown meat has been somewhat controversial in the U.S. with large meat packers like Cargill and Tyson Foods owning shares in cell-cultured meat businesses. There has also been a debate on what to call the emerging products and what regulatory agencies should enforce the production of cell-cultured or “fake meat.”
For more on plant-based and lab-grown meat read the following stories:
- USDA, FDA to Host Joint Lab-grown Meat Meeting with Focus on Labeling
- Protein’s Disruptors Threaten Traditional Red Meat, Poultry Industries
- Joint Letter Sent to President Trump on Lab-grown Meat Regulations
- Flesh and Blood: What’s the Future of Fake Meat?
- Cattlemen’s Debate: What to Call Fake Meat? Who Should Regulate?
- Consumers Want “Clear Labels” On Lab-Grown Meat
- FDA to Hold Fake Meat Meeting to Address Public Concerns
- Airline Serving Fake Meat Burger Infuriates New Zealand Prime Minister
- Digital Disruption: Technology is Transforming the Meat Business
- Nalivka: Lab-Grown Meat Analysis
- How Missouri Began To Tackle Fake Meat: Missouri Sen. Sandy Crawford
- ‘Fake Meat’ Labeling Bill Passes in Missouri
- AgriTalk: Trade, Fake Meat Top of Mind for Cattlemen
- ‘Standards of Beef’ Won’t Be Enough to Stop Fake Meat
- Cattlemen’s Groups Worried About “Fake Meat”
- Fake Meat: A Threat To The Beef Industry?
- Tyson Invests in Cultured Meat Leader, Memphis Meats
- Cargill Invests In Alternative Meat
- Do-good Meat: Are Investors Only After Their Pound of Flesh?
Read original article: https://cattlemensharrison.com/japanese-wagyu-ranch-partners-with-lab-grown-meat-company/
By: Drovers