REHOVOT, ISRAEL — Future Meat Technologies, an Israeli company developing technology to produce cultivated meat, announced that it produced its first cultivated lamb product.

“In passing this milestone, Future Meat reinforces its position as a leader and pioneer in the cultivated meat industry and shows again the limitless potential of how innovation can drive sustainable solutions,” said Nicole Johnson-Hoffman, chief executive officer of Future Meat. “The key learnings will be leveraged as we work to produce other meats, including beef and pork, increasing Future Meat's market offerings for consumers.”

The company first started working on the item in 2019 with fibroblast cells isolated from Awassi sheep, generating two independent ovine cell lines that divide indefinitely. 

Future Meat said reaching the achievement with ovine cell lines means the company can now produce cultivated lamb at scale and expand into more species.

“Future Meat has been the first company to remove fetal bovine serum, and all other animal components, from its growth media,” said Yaakov Nahmias, president, founder and chief science officer of Future Meat Technologies. “Future Meat’s approach leans on the natural spontaneous immortalization of fibroblasts, rather than genetic modification. This is the key to Future Meat's cells being non-GMO.”

Future Meat pointed out that the European Union is the world’s largest lamb consumer, and lamb is the primary meat source for numerous countries across the Middle East, Northern Africa, and parts of Asia. 

The company also said it plans to enter the US market soon with its focus on scaling chicken and lamb cultivated meat at its new production facility, which is expected to break ground during 2022.