Biotech Roslin Technologies gets £1 million injection to help turn animal cells into sausages

Biotech innovator Roslin Technologies has secured £1 million in funding as it looks to turn animal cells into sausages.

The firm has been awarded a major grant to develop its world-leading technology for cultivated meat – meat grown directly from cells without the need to raise animals.

The funding is part of a UK government drive to make food production more sustainable.

Roslin, which is linked with Edinburgh’s world-famous Roslin Institute, which was behind the cloning of Dolly the sheep, said the £1m is split between a grant from the government’s innovation support body, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), under the Transforming Food Production programme, and investment led by the British Innovation Fund.

Roslin Technologies said the money will be invested in a programme to further develop and commercialise the firm’s stem cell lines to help food companies around the world produce cultivated meat and improve the sustainability of meat production.

The money will be invested in a programme to further develop and commercialise the firm’s stem cell lines to help food companies around the world produce cultivated meat and improve the sustainability of meat production.

Chief scientific officer Jacqui Matthews said: “Roslin Tech is at the stage of turning its ground-breaking stem cell innovations into a commercially exploitable proposition for the global cultivated meat sector.

“We are delighted that the UK government has recognised us as a British world leader in this area and support us in our vision to make cultivated meat affordable and available around the world.”

Chief executive Ernst van Orsouw said: “There's something to be said for being at the right place at the right time in business – our novel cell technology is the way the world can help overcome some of the most important challenges it faces, particularly in relation to sustainability and climate change. We are engaging with cultivated meat producers globally to drive adoption.”

UKRI Challenge director for transforming food production, Katrina Hayter, added: “To gain funding in a project like this you have to have the knowledge and the potential to turn it into a realistic and successful business proposition.

“We believe developing cultivated meat is one of the most significant advances that we can make, as a country and as a planet, to tackle the scourge of food shortages and climate change. We are delighted to be working with Roslin Technologies on this project.”

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