World’s first hybrid meat centre to open in 2023

IN a couple of years, consumers will get to try pulled pork and dumplings made by mixing cellbased meat with plant-based proteins, after an alternative novel meat innovation centre opens here in the second half of 2023.

The hybrid meat innovation centre – said to be a world’s first – is a tie-up between Dutch cultivated pork company Meatable and local plant-based butcher Love Handle.

Hybrid meat refers to a newer type of alternative protein where plant-based meat, animal cells and even fermented edible microbes or algae are mixed to form a fusion protein product. This takes the optimal properties of each alternative to enhance the final hybrid product’s taste, texture and nutrition, said Ken Kuguru, Love Handle’s co-founder and chief executive.

By 2024, Meatable and Love Handle are aiming to have hybrid meat items such as pork belly, meatballs, cold cuts and patties on the menus of local restaurants. By 2025, they hope the items will reach supermarket shelves.

The Us$6mil (Rm27.3mil) centre will have a kitchen and lab fitted with high-tech equipment suitable to make hybrid meat and plant-based products.