Chicken substitute company opening in Columbia

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) - Columbia city officials say a company that makes a soy-based chicken substitute is opening a manufacturing facility in Columbia that will hire more than 60 people within five years.

Savage River Inc. says the facility where the substitute called Beyond Meat will be made will be in an existing building.

The Columbia Daily Tribune reports (http://bit.ly/Qcn9H0 ) that Savage River entered into an intellectual property licensing agreement with the University of Missouri in 2010. The company is using research that a MU biological engineering professor has spent more than 20 years developing.

The licensing agreement stipulated that the company has to establish a physical presence in Missouri within five years. The university also owns a small stake in the company.

---

Information from: Columbia Daily Tribune, http://www.columbiatribune.com