Tel Aviv, Israel-headquartered SuperMeat has signed a memorandum of understanding with Migros, Switzerland’s largest supermarket chain, major private label retailer and leading meat manufacturer, to expedite production and distribution of cultivated meat at a commercial scale. As part of the partnership, Migros invested in SuperMeat, indicating that the industry sees a strong interest among consumers in alternative proteins.
Working together, the two companies aim to solidify an infrastructure to distribute and sell meat on a wide scale to meet growing demand in Europe for more efficient and sustainable alternative food products. Migros is well positioned to serve customers and provide product assortments that better match consumer needs.
“We are thrilled to be working with a prominent partner like Migros as we move toward our joint vision of producing cultivated meat on a mass scale,” said Ido Savir, chief executive officer of SuperMeat. “Their expertise and reach in food production and grocery paired with SuperMeat’s advancements in the industry will set the stage to bring cultivated meat to European consumers in the near future.”
Migros believes in supporting a future of alternative proteins in many forms. In addition to the work with SuperMeat, the retailer recently partnered with Swiss companies Givaudan and Bühler to establish The Cultured Food Innovation Hub, with the goal of building a pilot plant to further research and grow cultivated meat.
“As consumers demand more sustainable, healthier and alternative protein products, Migros wants to ensure it is prepared to meet the needs of this growing customer base when the time comes,” said Matthew Robin, chief executive officer of ELSA-Mifroma, a Migros Group company. “Having the opportunity to taste SuperMeat’s cultivated chicken personally at their restaurant in Israel, I was very impressed with how similar this was to traditional chicken, confirming my conviction of the potential for this technology to change the meat industry.”
The announcement is part of several steps SuperMeat is taking to move forward the commercialization of meat grown directly from animal cells, including the development of the first open-source system aimed at identifying the most cost-effective cell feed, reducing production costs for the industry. Last year, SuperMeat also signed a memorandum of understanding with PHW Group, one of Europe’s largest poultry producers and the only company from the meat industry to rank among the 50 Sustainability & Climate Leaders, to manufacture and distribute cultivated meat at a large scale for European consumers.
About Migros
With annual sales of CHF 28.93 billion in 2021, the Migros Group is the largest retail company in Switzerland, and with over 97,541 people on the payroll it is the largest private employer as well. The owners of Migros are its more than two million cooperative members, organized into ten regional cooperatives. These members run the Migros Group’s core business, its retail sales. Over 50 percent of the products offered in Migros stores are private label brands, a large number of which are manufactured by its own industrial group.
