Basque company BioTech Foods, which specialises in developing cultured meat products, has begun construction of what will be the largest cultured meat plant in southern Europe. The facilities, which will also include an R&D laboratory, will be located in Eskusaitzeta, the industrial estate in San Sebastián (Gipuzkoa), and will bring together all the company's business activity. Its workforce will increase to 150 employees.

BioTech Foods, majority-owned by Brazil's JBS, will invest 30 million euros in the new factory. This will occupy 11,000 square metres on a 20,000-square metre plot, and will leave room for a future extension of 4,000 square metres. This is a concept that fits in with the company’s current growth process, in which it aims to be an international leader in its segment.

Market launch
As BioTech Foods CEO Íñigo Charola explains, “This new plant will allow us to increase our production capacity to address the next phase of the company's expansion. This will undoubtedly be a very important milestone for us, as it will be a big step in developing our technology and will allow us to make the final leap and launch the product on the market.”

The facility will have space for an R&D department, which will play a major role in the company's day-to-day operations. Experts in biology, biochemistry and biotechnology will work in this laboratory. There will also be specialised manufacturing staff, with expertise in process engineering and production as well as specialist training in cell culture.

More plants in the future
Charola says the company's plan “includes the construction of new plants in the future. We are in an emerging market with strong growth prospects for the next decade, and we are planning our development to take advantage of this potential”. In fact, he explains, “We believe that this new plant will give us an important competitive advantage in this emerging market, as well as facilitating the progressive increase in production capacity, something that will enable us to respond to the needs of the current and future global market”.

Regarding that future, Charola points out that “this market is expected to experience major growth over the next decade, with sources indicating that by 2032, 12% of the protein consumed in the world will come from this type of more balanced food production system”.

Efficiency criteria
To achieve this market share, cultured meat still faces the challenge of achieving competitive production volumes and costs. The San Sebastián plant has been designed in line with efficiency criteria with which the company aims to meet this challenge, and in addition to sustainability benefits.

Biotech Foods was one of the beneficiaries of the Innova Invest programme, promoted by Invest In Spain to support foreign investment in R&D, as part of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan. The programme has funding of 10 million euros.

The production of alternative proteins like cultured meat forms part of the foodtech sector, in which Spain is the fifth country in Europe in terms of investment, behind Germany, the United Kingdom, France and the Netherlands, according to the Foodtech report produced annually by ICEX since 2020 and referred to by BioTech Foods.

^{Photo: BioTech Foods}