Month: May 2022

General News, Uncategorized, Vegan Recipes

How the Netherlands is leading the global food revolution.

29 April 2022

On 14 April, the Dutch government announced that it would allocate € 60 million to support the formation of an ecosystem around cellular agriculture. It represents the largest public funding into the cellular agriculture field ever, globally.

Cellular agriculture, with cultivated meat as its emblematic product, is the technology to produce animal products directly from cells outside of an animal: it is therefore a product derived from an animal, with the same characteristics and nutritional value, but without the need to kill or maintain large numbers of animals in industrial conditions. 

The funding is awarded under conditions by the National Growth Fund, which aims to create structural economic growth by investing in the public domain to support innovative economic sectors.

This financial impulse represents a first step towards funding a larger growth plan proposing to invest € 252 – € 382 million in cellular agriculture, specifically stimulating cellular agriculture education, academic research, publicly accessible scale-up facilities, societal integration (including farmers and consumers) and innovation. The broader growth plan is projected to generate an incremental €10 – €14 billion in Dutch GDP growth per year by 2050, with considerable benefits for animals, the environment and global health.

The National Growth Fund Committee said about cellular agriculture:

Although the products are not yet on the shelves, the science is promising and the first companies are already active. The committee is pleased with the potential and the parties involved.”

The proposal for funding was made by a newly created consortium of 12 organisations (academia, NGOs, startups, industry) called Cellular Agriculture Netherlands. The group is currently shaping the executive teams and governance structure to start executing the proposed growth plan as soon as the funds become available, which is expected to be towards the end of 2022 after meeting a specific set of conditions. The team will also reach out to potential partners in the Netherlands for execution of the programs.

The Netherlands has a strong history of innovating food production. This public investment in cellular agriculture is a demonstration of the Dutch government’s commitment to building an agricultural ecosystem that is healthy and sustainable for both humans and animals. In combination with reforms to traditional farming, cellular agriculture can be an additional tool to satisfy the world’s growing appetite for protein.

While individual cellular agriculture companies have been successful in attracting private funding, the National Growth Fund financing is explicitly aiming to support the public part of the ecosystem. The expectation is that this impulse will attract more companies, more funding, and more collaboration across the cellular agriculture field in and with The Netherlands over the next few years. 

Mosa Meat

Read more at source

Regards Mark

General News, Uncategorized

Northern Ireland: USPCA calls on public to challenge election candidates on animal welfare issues.

USPCA calls on public to challenge election candidates on animal welfare issues

21 April 2022

USPCA

Ahead of the upcoming election, Northern Ireland animal welfare charity, the USPCA, has launched its ‘Act for Animals’ campaign which calls on the public to challenge their prospective political representatives on their views regarding animal welfare legislation.

The campaign highlights four areas of animal welfare which are in need of urgent address including greater enforcement and regulation of the puppy trade, the introduction of a banned offenders register, the impending indiscriminate badger cull, and the introduction of a ban on hunting wild mammals with dogs. 

The outgoing Assembly voted against introducing a ban on hunting wild mammals with dogs, did not afford time to consider a private members bill which would have enhanced the regulations around the cruel puppy trade and the DAERA Minister announced a cull of badgers – a protected species. Our incoming Assembly needs to do better, and we all now have the opportunity to use our vote to enhance animal welfare in Northern Ireland.

Brendan Mullan, USPCA Chief Executive

The USPCA are asking the public to challenge election candidates to commit to:

Better enforcement and regulation of the puppy trade

Voting against an indiscriminate badger cull

Supporting a ban on hunting wild mammals with dogs

Supporting the introduction of a banned offenders register

A recent Lucidtalk poll commissioned by the Northern Ireland Companion Animal Welfare Group (NICAWG) reinforces this with 83% of respondents agreeing that there needs to be improvement in the enforcement of current animal welfare law in Northern Ireland. 

Animals play an essential role in our community and natural environment, enhancing our quality of life – but at the same time, can be taken for granted or worse still, abused. As a compassionate society, we must recognise our duty to protect all animals – be that our much-loved companion animals or our native wildlife. The public has demonstrated time and time again, their appetite to see real change in animal welfare here in Northern Ireland. We thank our supporters for rallying behind our campaigning work and look forward to their continued support in the months ahead. We all play an important role in shaping Northern Ireland’s political landscape for the next five years – we hope Northern Ireland has a future in which animals are afforded the protections they deserve.

Brendan Mullan, USPCA Chief Executive

For further information visit the USPCA’s website. 

Regards Mark