Vegan meat: How a new lab-grown meat product is challenging the livestock industry

A Melbourne company is calling for investment to create lab-grown lamb. But the livestock industry has hit back at the use of the word meat for fake protein products.

Sheep producers are confident lamb will hold its own against lab-grown cultured products.

Traditional lamb chops may well look very different in the near future, as a vegan-founded company eyes off a spot at the dinner table.

But sheep producers have rebuffed the notion lab meat could replace the classic lamb roast in future.

Magic Valley, based in Melbourne, is working on creating lab-grown cultured lamb products, including mince, strips, steaks and chops.

Magic Valley cultured meat lamb products are created using induce pluripotent stem cells, which according to the Magic Valley website does not use “animal products whatsoever”.

Magic Valley founder Paul Bevan said the company’s main focus was developing the world’s first cultured lamb products.

He said Australia’s reputation for food safety, security, and quality sheep production, “lamb was the obvious choice for the company’s first product range”.

“Not to mention the fact that lambs are also currently slaughtered at an incredibly young age using traditional farming methods. Magic Valley’s cultured meat products will now provide Australians with a slaughter-free alternative to factory-farmed lamb,” Mr Bevan said.

Sheep Producers Australia chief executive Stephen Crisp said while there was an apparent “push” for products such as lab meat, “once the method of production and the ingredients used to make these products become common knowledge, their appeal may wear off quickly”.

“Lamb and sheep meat in general is the natural and green option, along with being a fantastic Australian product,” Mr Crisp said.

“It will more than hold its own. You only have to look at what was purchased in the lead-up to the lockdowns, and what was left on the shelf, to know how Australians feel about their lamb.”

Mr Crisp said the word meat ought not to be used when referring to lab-grown products.

“They can develop their product and market it as freely as we do, but we do not have the right to call our product any other type of meat,” Mr Crisp said.

“This synthetic cell protein manufacturer is blatantly trying to piggyback off the reputation of Aussie lamb. Whatever it may be, the fact is this highly manufactured artificial test-tube grown cell culture is not lamb.”

Sheep Producers Australia is exploring options to ensure labelling truth in products such as lab-meat.

“The status quo isn’t working and something needs to be done to fix it. It is illegal for private companies to infringe upon trademark brands and the same should go for these highly processed synthetic products,” Mr Crisp said.

Magic Valley is also eyeing off expansion throughout China, the US, and the Middle East in the future. 7

But first Magic Valley is seeking seed round investments to help complete their prototype, with the aim to have lab-lamb products on supermarket shelves in one to two years.