Africa is one area of the globe that may benefit most from the introduction of cultured meat into the food system. While Africa is one continent, however, it is comprised of many different nations with varying cultural traditions and styles of consuming meat, and what works for cultured meat companies in North America or Asia may not necessarily work there.
To better understand the unique challenges and opportunities facing the cultured meat industry in Africa I interviewed Brett Thompson, CEO of Mzansi Meat - the continent’s first cultured meat company which is based in South Africa.
Read on to learn how and why Mzansi is localizing cultured meat for South Africa and beyond.
Could you share some background about yourself and why Mzansi was founded?
I was born and bred in Cape Town, South Africa where I studied Finance and Economics at the University of Cape Town before doing my honors in Economics at Stellenbosch University. My thesis - an economic case for vegetarianism - landed me a job at Fry's Family Food, where I started my career in alternative proteins.
It was after moving to Berlin in 2017 that I got my first taste of the world of cellular agriculture. I immediately recognized the industry’s potential and knew I had to bring this innovation to South Africa and start a company of my own. Shortly after connecting with my business partner Jay van der Walt, we founded Mzansi Meat Co. in 2020, and the rest they say is history!
I’ve always been intrigued by how people and industry engage with food systems, and with the development of this new technology I’m excited to see how it will improve our way of eating - without compromising on the “culture” in agriculture!
Can you explain the origin of Mzansi’s name for those who aren’t familiar with it?
We know it’s a bit of a tongue twister for our international friends, so we’re used to giving non-South Africans a quick language lesson. Mzansi literally means ‘south’ in isiXhosa - or Zulu - and is a colloquial term for South Africa. It is a term generally understood by speakers from all of our 11 official languages and it lets people know immediately where we are from… South Africa. Beyond that, Mzansi is more than just a physical place - it’s a place in peoples’ hearts and minds. We needed a name that truly exemplifies the way we come together at a braai, (or shisa nyama) which means barbecue - and to us that’s Mzansi.
For anyone new to cultured meat, what would you like them to know?
First, cultivated meat (or cell-based meat) is the same as conventionally farmed meat. Instead of slaughtering an animal, the meat is produced safely and cleanly by growing animal cells.
Second, cultivated meat is not a plant based substitute - it's real meat that under a microscope is indistinguishable from meat tissue that comes from a cow, pig, or chicken.
What we’re doing is cultivating the cell types present in meat (muscle cells, fat cells, connective tissue, etc.) through a cell culture platform. We utilize cells derived from commercially relevant species, and safely grow them to produce sustainable meat products. This approach protects against the serious environmental, sustainability, public health, and animal welfare concerns tied to conventional animal agriculture.
Can you tell us about Mzansi’s mission and what pushed you to found the company?
South Africans have always loved meat, and it’s easy to see why: meat goes with all occasions and brings us together, making moments more flavorful. The journey from the source to our plate, however, comes at an unnecessary cost. That’s where our company was born – out of a relentless pursuit to reimagine food systems and change meat culture in Africa.
As the first cultivated meat company in Africa, we have the ability to lead the conversation about cellular agriculture and help shape the narrative. We understand, as Africans, why meat is so important and that’s why we’re working on ways to improve it through a local lens.
Plus, the needs of our country are very different than those of the developed world. According to Unicef, “chronic malnutrition is an underlying cause for half the childhood deaths in South Africa, with one in three children stunted and 30% living in households with little or no access to a daily healthy diet.” We believe that cultivated meat has the ability to address all of these concerns with one all-encompassing solution.
Not only can cultured meat play a role in the reduction of animal suffering but it can also help prevent food scarcity resulting from increasing populations, liberate and repurpose land for nature (including wild animals), and meet our need for a sustainable source of protein for the African continent. The future of food in Africa is evolving - becoming one where food security is no longer tied to intensive animal agriculture.
As the CEO of the first cultured meat company in Africa, you have a role to play in setting the tone for the continent in terms of regulations and consumer adoption. What contributions would you like to make in these areas?
Defining the best practices when engaging with regulators and future consumers is our responsibility as first mover in the industry, and we received strong advice when we started the company in early 2020: understand regulations and the market. Currently, we are making significant headway through our relationships with top food and meat scientists in the country.
We’ve been engaging with policy and legal experts since day 1, and our efforts are already showing promise. South Africa doesn’t have an equivalent to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), or the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), and there isn’t a centralized body with a sole mandate to regulate the food we eat. In South Africa, the structure is slightly more fragmented with three large bodies (the departments of Health, Trade Industry, and Agriculture) that look after food in the country. From working with these regulatory bodies we already have strong encouragement that Mzansi will be able to sell and distribute cultured meat very soon.
We understand the important role that meat plays in daily life, and recognize that it is not just price, taste and convenience that determine what people buy - it’s also culture.
South Africans have always had a rich heritage connected to meat - our national heritage day is even nicknamed Braai Day! We need to consider this cultural history when bringing cultivated meat to the continent, and consider this as part of our responsibility.
Every region has its own traditions around meat consumption. Could you describe what these traditions are like in South Africa for those who aren’t familiar with them?
South Africans love meat - but it goes beyond just diet. Cattle represent wealth, and different groups slaughter in different styles for varying reasons. South Africa is divided into four major ethnic groups, namely: Nguni (Zulu, Xhosa, Ndebele and Swazi), Sotho, Shangaan-Tsonga and Venda.
As an example of our diversity, our President Cyril Ramaphosa is Venda and farms Ankole cattle which are of east & central African descent. Absie Pantshwa, our Public Relations Officer, is Xhosa, and Nguni cows are slaughtered to commemorate events such as weddings, uMgidi (an initiation ceremony for men), funerals, unveiling, and thanksgiving. Her family lives on a “farm to table” approach so they slaughter a cow twice a year for their own consumption.
Again, South Africans have a strong connection to meat and cattle, and we want to embrace that while innovating.
How do regulators and future consumers in South Africa view cultured meat today?
On the regulatory front, since this is a nascent industry it is important to work on regulations early. We are currently exploring the regulatory landscape in South Africa and have consulted a number of experts who understand the complexity of South African food regulations, and plan to work with them as we engage the relevant governmental departments and policymakers.
In terms of consumer perceptions, we recently conducted the nation’s largest study on the topic, titled “Adoption of Cultivated Meat in South Africa,” in collaboration with North Mountain Consulting Group. The results have been inspiring, with early adopters envisioning cultivated meat to make up 36% of their future meat intake. This was slightly more than the general population, which envisioned their cultivated meat intake to be 30%.
You’re planning to kick things off with a cultivated beef burger, but what’s on the horizon after that?
Once we’ve developed ground beef products (including sausages, or as we call them here, boerewors) and mince meat, we will explore ground meat products from other commercially relevant domesticated species. This will include chicken followed by lamb and pork. In conjunction with this exploration we will also conduct R&D into 3D whole cuts for all species, starting with beef cuts. We will continue to look at species that are indigenous to South Africa, whether cattle or animals in the wild. Mzansi plans to be the largest cultivated meat company in Africa and the meat we make needs to reflect the variety found on our continent.
It’s no surprise that the global food system needs to be reformed in many ways. What problems does the South African food system face that cultured meat can help to address?
A 2019 study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) found that South Africa ranked 10th highest in per capita consumption of poultry (34.0kg) and 13th highest in per capita consumption of beef (12.4kg), making South Africa an ideal candidate for a pilot cultivated meat rollout in Africa.
Producing nutritious and wholesome meat in a bioreactor has the potential to prevent the destruction of natural resources for the conventional production of meat. This will keep land and natural resources available for free-roaming domestic and wildlife species which will benefit local communities and the South African tourism industry.
Our primary goal is making meat for Africa and narrowing the protein gap between the continent and the rest of the world.
If you could fast forward 10 years into the future, what would you like Mzansi to have achieved by then?
What drives me is building a new model that makes our current method of producing meat obsolete, and this can only be done by achieving price parity. Mzansi is building this model in Africa and we want to be the most influential protein producer on the continent.