Oxford University biotech spin-off raising £16 million to put lab-grown pork on tables by next year

Ivy Farm, a biotech and food science start-up spun out of Oxford University’s Institute of Biomedical Engineering, is raising £16 million in investment. The cash is earmarked for a research and development facility in the Oxford area and a further plant in London which will showcase the company’s technology and let visitors taste the pork sausages produced by it, which would also be on sale.

Ivy Farm, with the ‘Ivy’ part a play on “in vitro”, hopes to open the London facility by as soon as next year sometimes. The start-up is also targeting the production of 12,000 tonnes of pork a year by 2025. That would prevent the need for 170,000 pigs to be slaughtered. The cost of the lab-grown pork sausages is expected to initially come in at around 25% more than premium sausages made from pigs farmed sustainably outdoors. An expansion of Ivy Farm product range with beef burgers and meatballs made from meat cultivated in tanks is also planned.

Ivy Farm’s technology was originally developed at Oxford University, which holds an undisclosed stake in the company, with the aim of growing human cells for medical applications. It has subsequently been adapted to cultivate the proliferation of pig muscle and fat cells.

The original cells, a cubic centimetre of fat and another of muscle, used as a ‘base’ for the lab-grown meat are cut from an anaesthetised pig. The samples are then placed in separate tanks supplied with a carefully balanced soup of nutrients, minerals and vitamins and kept at exactly 37C.

Ivy Farm’s first prototype sausages, produced last year, were codenamed “Churchill” in recognition of the foresight of war-time prime minister Sir Winston Churchill. Churchill predicted the development of lab-grown meat as far back as 1931 when he wrote:

“We shall escape the absurdity of growing a whole chicken in order to eat the breast or wing, by growing these parts separately under a suitable medium.”

Ivy Farms’ co-founder is 36-year-old Dr Russ Tucker, who comes from a family of butchers. He recounts how he was “lucky not to be kicked out of the house”, when as a teenager he suggested the family eat a vegetarian meal once a week.

He also says he realised early that he wanted to follow the long-standing family connection with the meat trade “albeit with a culture dish and not a cleaver”.

A recent study commissioned by non-profit group the Good Food Institute estimated lab-grown pork could cut greenhouse emissions associated with the meat by 52%, if produced with renewable energy. The report also found land use associated with the pork industry could be reduced by 72%. For beef, the difference is even more stark with lab-grown alternatives cutting harmful emissions by as much as 92% and land use by 95%.

Nick Allen, chief executive of the British Meat Processors Association, issued a statement that was generally supportive of the new technology and approach but also urged caution:

“It could be the future but we need to make sure it’s not rushed to market without understanding hidden consequences. You start with one little culture of meat and then grow it exponentially and you have to be certain that the initial sample was spot on.”

University spin-outs, especially in the biotechnology space, have led to some of the UK’s most successful start-ups over the years. Research England data says they now employ over 18,000 people, many of whom are well-paid experts. Investors are also recognising the potential and spin-outs attracted £1.74 billion in investment over the 2018-19 tax year – double the amount raised just two years earlier.