Peter Wesjohann, CEO of Wiesenhof / PHW, one of Europe’s largest poultry producers, is calling on the EU to allow the sale of cultivated meat.
Wesjohann said in an interview with the German publication Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung: “If Brussels doesn’t speed things up a bit, we will end up with approval for sale in the USA and Asia, and here in Europe we will once again be too late.”
The Wiesenhof parent company PHW has a stake in the Israeli company Supermeat; together the two companies signed a Memorandum of Understanding in March and will work together to obtain EU authorization for cultivated meat products, aiming to be among the first to develop, manufacture and distribute cultivated meat at a large scale for consumers.
Wesjohann said it was “absolutely conceivable” that he would open a corresponding factory for cultivated meat in Germany, should it be possible to expand production. “We are also involved in a company in Israel that is active in 3D printing. I can well imagine that in the meat production of the future, the steak will be printed out by such a device, so to speak.”
However, it is not yet clear when cultivated meat will be ready for market. “But it will come, and certainly sooner than we think.” Europe must be careful not to lose out on this technological development because bureaucracy stands in the way. “The German government should put pressure on the EU level,” says Wesjohann.
