Massachusetts Backs Tufts University With $2.1M for New Cell Ag Center While Nebraska Pushes for Beef Protection – vegconomist

The Healey-Driscoll administration and the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (MassTech) have awarded $2,136,711 to the Tufts University Center for Cellular Agriculture (TUCCA) to establish the Foodtech Engineering for Alternative Sustainable Technologies (FEAST) center.
FEAST aims to advance cellular agriculture research at Tufts, with a specific focus on cultivated meat and other cell-based products. The center will include cutting-edge equipment and a test kitchen, providing infrastructure for prototyping and evaluating cellular agriculture products. It will also allow academic and business partners to use these facilities fee-for-service.
Aligned with the manufacturing institute BioMADE, sponsored by the Department of Defense, the project is expected to create 60 new jobs in the bioindustrial manufacturing sector in Massachusetts. The funding is part of the Massachusetts Manufacturing Innovation Initiative (M2I2) program, which supports hard tech innovators by investing in capital equipment and fostering collaboration between companies and institutions.
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Cellular ag in Massachusetts
Tufts University and Massachusetts are key players in cellular agriculture, making the FEAST center critical for nurturing a commercial industry within the state. The Boston Foodtech 2023 report highlighted Boston as a leader in food tech and biotech and also the Industrializing Cultivated Meat & Seafood Summit takes place in this city, reuniting world leaders in cultivated meat.
Professor of Biomedical Engineering David Kaplan established the first fellowship program on cellular agriculture at Tufts University in 2016. Later, in 2020, he launched TUCCA, where he and his peers began researching all topics related to cultivated meat.
In 2021, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) awarded Tufts a $10 million grant to create the USDA National Institute for Cellular Agriculture (NICA), the country’s largest research center in this field. And last year, Tufts University launched the world’s first undergraduate degree in cellular agriculture, which has reportedly enjoyed enormous student interest.
“Massachusetts is without question a focal point for research and development in cellular agriculture, so this investment in FEAST is critical to nurture and grow a commercial industry within the state, not only by advancing the fundamental tools and technology and testing new products, but also through workforce development,” Prof. Kaplan shared in the announcement.
image: vegconomist
Meanwhile in Nebraska
Meanwhile, cultivated meat is not as welcomed in Nebraska, the No. 1 state in commercial cattle slaughter.
This August, Governor Jim Pillen signed an executive order prohibiting state agencies from procuring cultivated meat products for “discriminating against natural meat products” and announced plans to pursue a ban on “lab-grown meat” by 2025.
In a recent initiative to protect consumers, Governor Pillen is now proposing regulations requiring meat alternatives from plants, cells, microbes, or insects to be labeled as “imitations” and to be displayed separately from traditional meat in stores.
As reported by local media, non-compliance could lead to branding products as misbranded or falsely advertised. Repeated violations could result in actions against a business’s selling permit, including probation, suspension, or revocation.
The proposed labeling has received support from the beef industry. The Nebraska Cattlemen said clear labeling of meat alternatives would ensure consumers are informed about what they are purchasing. Meanwhile, the Nebraska Grocery Industry Association supports the proposed labeling for ‘consumer clarity.’ However, the organization is concerned about the feasibility of the physical separation of products (freezers and sections), which could significantly impact small retailers.
“We want to make sure that when consumers are buying a product, they know what they’re getting,” Ansley Fellers, the association’s executive director, told the Omaha World-Herald.
A hearing on these proposed rules is scheduled for October 28, as part of broader efforts by Gov. Pillen intended to protect traditional agriculture in Nebraska.

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