Lab-grown wildebeest will appear on the menu as the market for cultured meat grows

The global push to develop lab-grown meat is taking an exotic turn in South Africa, where slaughter-free chunks of springbok, wildebeest and impala may soon appear on the menu.

Mogale Meat Co. has already produced Africa's first caged chicken and is currently developing a range of game meat without the need to kill wildlife. In the research phase, the startup, based in the tourist city north of Johannesburg, says the first product could be ready this year, with commercial production planned within three years.

The company is targeting the "average meat consumer" who is increasingly opting for free or organic products but is not attracting plant-based alternatives, said Chief Executive Officer Paul Bartels, a wildlife veterinarian who used his savings to start the firm in 2020.

Meanwhile, Cape Town-based Mzansi Meat Co. unveiled the continent's first beef burger in April and wants to expand production to supply the national fast-food chain by 2023.

Bloomberg can send me offers and shares.

The cultured meat industry, which produces proteins by growing cells instead of slaughtering animals, is still in its infancy with fewer than 100 startups worldwide, according to a report by McKinsey & Co. However, it could be worth $25 billion worldwide by 2030 and is attracting funding from major animal protein companies, including Tyson Food Inc. and Nutreco NV. as well as investors such as Temasek Holdings Pte Ltd. and SoftBank Group Corp. 

South Africa is an example of a country where a nascent industry makes sense. 

Known for its traditional barbecue festival known as braai, it has one of the highest consumptions of beef, pork and poultry in Africa. But the country's livestock industry, which dominates agricultural land use, is exacerbating and facing the risks of climate change.

Producing cell-based meat on a large scale could solve sustainability problems as the world's population grows and people add more meat to their diets. It also ensures food security through domestic production for countries that rely heavily on imports. One such country is Singapore, the first in the world to allow the sale of cultured meat.

Paul Bartels, CEO of Mogale Meat.

In South Africa, where you can get a springbok carpaccio at a restaurant for 145 rand ($8.50), order a warthog fillet online, or easily buy ostrich biltong (a local look at dried), Mogale Meat is betting on the game's popularity.

It intends to offer different types, flavors and textures of wild meat, while preserving the natural habitat for wildlife. 

"Once we reach price parity with conventional meat," the company aims to capture as much of the market as possible in South Africa and the rest of the continent, Bartels said. The company received early funding from three North American venture capital firms: Sustainable Food Ventures LLC, Big Idea Ventures LLC and Cult Food Science Corp.  

Mzansi Meat, which is backed by investors including GlassWall Syndicate and Sustainable Food Ventures, plans to raise $5 million and build Africa's first meat plant. 

Co-founder Brett Thompson said he intends to provide a nationwide burger franchise by the end of this year or early 2023. 

Beef cutlets fried in the laboratory.

"At this point, we can only produce enough to make one burger," he said. "We need to get to a number where we can produce thousands of kilograms before we can serve a restaurant."

However, before they can get their product on a plate, companies face regulatory hurdles. 

South African regulators have not kept pace with science and there is currently no classification for lab-grown meat, said Janusz Lutherek, a lawyer specializing in food regulation at Pretoria Hahn & Hahn Attorneys. Meat is classified as a "carcass" or part of an animal rather than "grown in an aquarium," he said.

Labeling can also be an issue, as manufacturers of vegan and vegetarian products discovered in June. The Department of Agriculture has required products such as plant-based meatballs, vegan nuggets and vegan barbecue ribs to be removed from shelves and relabeled to use names commonly associated with processed meat.

It could be years before lab-grown meat can be legally sold in South Africa without a concerted government effort to update the rules, Lutherek said.

Mogale Meat produced Africa's first cell-based chicken. 

The Ministry of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development said there was no time frame for approval. "Once sufficient information is built around cultured meat or cellular agriculture, the department will not stand in the way of developing legislation that focuses on the sale of cultured meat," it said.

Mzansi Meat's Thompson is ready to wait.

"There are a number of challenges that a startup has to go through, and we never thought about leaving," he said. "Our journey is just beginning."