Sustainable foods company, Eat Just, has partnered with Doha Venture Capital (DVC) and Qatar Free Zones Authority (QFZA), to build the first-ever cultivated meat facility in the Middle East and Northern Africa (MENA) region.
The regional hub will be located in the Umm Alhoul Free Zone, one of two free zones overseen and regulated by QFZA, with direct access to Hamad Port.
It will initially comprise a large-scale facility for Eat Just’s GOOD Meat division, which created the world’s first-to-market meat made from animal cells instead of slaughtered livestock.
There are plans to add a protein processing facility for JUST Egg, the company’s plant-based egg division. The hub will be staffed with research and development, engineering and business development professionals.
This is DVC’s first investment in the protein innovation space and the forthcoming meat facility will be a first for QFZA, which is focused on bringing together leading global companies using innovative technologies to build a more sustainable future.
The Qatar Free Zones Authority and the Ministry of Public Health have indicated their intention to grant regulatory approval for GOOD Meat cultivated chicken very soon and have formally granted an export license for the pioneering product.
The GOOD Meat team is currently identifying restaurants in Qatar that would be ideal launch partners for this historic moment in the Middle East.
“Our team is grateful to take the next step in our global expansion in the Qatar Free Zones. Their commitment to accelerating our work in building a more sustainable food system was apparent from day one of our dialogue – and we’re expecting to look back decades from now on this partnership with them as key to how we made that vision a reality,” said Josh Tetrick, co-founder and CEO of Eat Just.
