JBS SA has completed the acquisition of Spain’s largest cultivated-meat company and has found a site for a new biotech R&D center.
JBS now owns a 51% stake in BioTech Foods, a Spanish cultivated-meat company, in an acquisition that was originally announced last November. JBS plans to build a production plant for cultivated meat in San Sebastián, on Spain’s northern coast near the French border. The $40 million plant is expected to have an annual capacity of 1,000 tons when it begins operations in mid-2024.
In addition, JBS has announced Florianópolis, Brazil, as the site of its Biotech Innovation Center. The center will focus primarily on cultivated meat but will also “develop other leading-edge technologies for the food industry,” according to a company release. It will comprise laboratories and a pilot plant.
"This is by far the largest investment by a Brazilian company in the cultivated protein sector and reinforces our innovation strategy to adapt to consumer trends and feed the growing global population,” Eduardo Noronha, global head of innovation and operational excellence at JBS, said in a statement.
