Cell-Based South Africa
At 16 years old, Tasneem Karodia cut meat out of her diet for sustainability reasons. However it wasn’t until she was working in management consulting that she saw the accelerating potential of protein alternatives, and decided to leave her job to join the movement. Now as co-founder and CFO of Newform Foods (formerly Mzansi Meat), Africa’s first cultivated meat company, she comes on the podcast to share her story and that of the South African startup. We chat about what it was like to leave her previous job behind and the technological learning curve that came with transitioning to the sector. We also do a deep dive on South African perceptions of meat and meat alternatives, scaling, what species New Form has chosen to start with and an exciting milestone reached for the startup so far plus more.
Africa and South Africa in particular has very high meat consumption, which makes cultivated meat a huge opportunity.
Tasneem: “With plant-based alternatives there was still a limit to the shift that was able to happen. For me cultivated meat is the same thing just made better.”
Tasneem: “At the moment meat is very cultural … we have a big braai culture which is essentially barbeque … it’s very integral to society and socialising.”
It’s this cultural aspect of meat that explains why Mzansi chose to focus on beef as their first product; cultivating products like burgers and sausages which can go on the braai. Though the startup isn’t focusing on a specific species of cow yet, they’re planning to build a portfolio of Indigenous species such as the gnuni.
However cultivated or not, there are still barriers when it comes to consumer perceptions.
Tasneem: “I think the one barrier at the moment is that it’s still too expensive for the average consumer.”
Tasneem: “People view alternatives and plant-based diets as an elitist thing.”
What this means though is that getting a product to market at a good price may be enough to see a substantial shift happen.
Beef was also chosen based on the fact that it was a mammalian species and therefore would be easier to cultivate based on the fact that more research is available. It was also a meat that people identified with and consumed heavily based on available protein consumption data. Though the highest protein consumed was chicken, the price for chicken products is so cheap that it would have taken Mzansi a far longer time to reduce the cost of their product to a competitive price point.
But beef alternatives are also being produced elsewhere. How does Mzansi view the international market?
Tasneem: “We are conscious of what international players are doing, for us it was important to look at our landscape and look at products that South Africans and Africans would eat.”
Tasneem: “The reason we found it the right opportunity to have Mzansi exist in the African space was that Africa’s overlooked.”
Tasneem: “Even though we are doing beef and beef is being done by other players, we are playing in the context in which we exist, which means we are looking at how do we reduce cost … and get this to market faster.”
Most importantly Tasneem mentioned the importance of having good consumer understanding as alternatives often come to the market but are not sold well.
In terms of the science, Mzansi has recently announced their movement away from 2D cultivation to the 3D suspension of cells in bioreactors in the starting of the journey to bring cultivated meat to scale.
At the moment the startup is cultivating muscle and fat, and have a commercial cell line that has been adapting well to environment, so much so that in their in-house experiments they found cells without scaffolds would attach themselves to create their own structures, a finding which has the potential to reduce long-term costs. That being said the company are not ignoring scaffolds altogether, especially given their first products are expected to be hybrids of plant and cell-based material.
Tasneem: “We’re definitely exploring scaffolds … those would provide structure but we hope also to compliment the taste.”
In terms of the bioreactors themselves, Mzansi is innovating their own machinery in-house.
Tasneem: “We’re regionally quite separated so everything we do usually has to be imported from quite far.”
Tasneem: "When we do think about it we assess cost but also time; there are quite long lead times to bring in bioreactors to South Africa.”
Building them from within the team has meant that the startup can experiment with bioreactors from the 500mL to 2L level, which Tasneem adds has been exceptional.
Tasneem: “If we wouldn’t be able to do that on the ground we wouldn’t be able to adapt and change so quickly, nevermind the cost as well.”
We also touched on bioprinting and the use of the technology for future cultivated meat products. Similar to other 3D printing you have nozzles with multiple inputs, say muscle and fat, as well as a software for the design and that’s what gets printed.
Tasneem: “Plant-based companies are doing it already … but there’s also a company in Israel that’s 3D printed a cultivated meat steak.”
Tasneem: “I think it’s about refining it, like the rest of the industry, and optimising it for cost and time.”
Mzansi meat have been refining their work for a while, and after 2 years of R&D Tasneem recently announced the production of their first cell-based meatball! We asked how the moment felt to be able to hold the product in her hands.
Tasneem: “It’s very difficult when you’re working very hard but you can’t show something tangible to external parties.”
Tasneem: “It was an exciting milestone … and it means now that we view ourselves not as a tech but food company with a food product.”
The startup is planning to unveil South Africa’s first cultivated beef burger on 12th April, an event which by now would have passed.
Tasneem: “It’s been an exciting journey; I think we’re able to start hitting the small milestones leading up to it, but I think still a lot of pressure to get there.”
In terms of the personal side of things being a cofounder for Tasneem?
Tasneem: “It’s been really interesting and very exciting to be doing this in Africa because we get to shape the narrative around it. I think for me being a cofounder has been amazing, to be close to business decisions being made around it but also answer questions about how to market it and how to scale it, this feels very personal to me.”
Her piece of advice for those who are hoping to step out of their comfort zone into a new (perhaps also technological) path?
Tasneem: “I think the biggest thing for me was reading and talking to people.”
Tasneem: “I personally felt like the GFI resources were a great starting point, very easy to absorb and for the average person, easy to understand.”