KIBBUTZ MIZRA, ISRAEL – The MeaTech Group, a developer of industrial-scale cultivated meat production technologies, signed a non-binding letter of intent to cooperate in the joint development of cultivated meat products with Tiv Ta’am Group, one of the largest food groups and marketing chains in Israel.

MeaTech and Tiv Ta’am agreed to discuss expanding cooperation on the production and marketing of cultivated meat products in the future, with an emphasis on cultivated pork, following MeaTech’s recent announcement regarding plans to expand its offerings to include the mass production of cultivated pork, and the Tiv Ta’am Group's expectation that growing demand will drive increased use of pork fat as a raw material in the future.

“We are proud that such a significant player in the Israeli food industry, with activities in both the retail and meat processing fields, has chosen MeaTech to be its partner in the competitive and evolving food-tech field in Israel and around the world,” said Sharon Fima, chief executive officer of MeaTech Group. This LOI [letter of intent] is a first step in considering the possibilities for accelerating the adoption of cultivated meat products, identifying the conditions for the establishment of production facilities and evaluating the opportunities inherent in meat products driven by cellular agriculture technologies for different species, as well as our biological 3D printing capabilities.”

The companies are negotiating a binding agreement which is expected to include cooperation on research and the establishment of a production facility for cultivated meat products. The companies also are working on an agreement that would grant distribution and marketing rights to Tiv Ta’am – including possible exclusive rights on jointly developed products – in Israel and/or elsewhere in the world.

“Today we are taking a significant step in expanding Tiv Ta’am’s business strategy, in light of the accelerating development of the food-tech industry as a whole, and in particular, the synergy between the cultivated meat industry and the Tiv Ta’am Group’s industrial food production,” said Hagai Shalom, CEO of the Tiv Ta’am Group. “This will enable Tiv Ta’am to meet the growing global demand for healthy, high-quality food without paying the moral and economic prices of this industry, while reducing environmental damage.”