“Want to be a pioneer in cell culture meat”

Dusseldorf Rügenwalder Mühle is by far Germany’s market leader for vegetarian meat alternatives. In the future, the family business from Bad Zwischenahn also wants to offer products from cultivated meat cells. With the Swiss food tech Mirai Foods, for example, a hybrid burger is to be developed that consists of vegetable proteins from Rügenwalder and cultivated beef fat. “To this day, this taste cannot be reproduced with vegetable fat alternatives,” said Michael Hähnel, head of Rügenwalder Mühle, in an interview with the Handelsblatt.

“But we won’t see the first products before 2025,” explains Hähnel. In any case, meat from cell cultures is not yet approved in the EU. The head of the Rügenwalder Mühle demands better framework conditions and, above all, financial support from politicians. “We are leaving an important future field to other countries – above all Singapore and Israel.”