Fact Check: Bill Gates Did NOT Own Dutch Facility That Burned — And There Was NO Production Of ‘Synthetic Meat’ There
Did a fire burn down a Bill Gates-owned factory in the Netherlands that produced synthetic meat? No, that’s not true: The fire took place at a distribution center owned by the Dutch grocery-delivery company, Picnic. A company representative told Lead Stories the claim is false. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Trust invested in Picnic in 2021, but it has a minority stake in the company and are not a controlling shareholder, according to a Picnic representative.
The claim appeared in a tweet (archived here) on July 11, 2022, that says, “Bill Gates factory that produces lab-grown synthetic meat burns down in the Netherlands.” A 12-second video in the tweet shows multiple fires with lots of billowing black smoke.
This is what the tweet looked like at the time of writing:
(Source: Twitter screenshot taken on Wed Jul 13 12:44:40 2022 UTC)
The Netherlands’ fire brigade released a statement on July 11, 2022, about this fire. Translated, it says:
On Sunday evening July 10, a very large fire completely destroyed the distribution center of Picnic aan de Zeearend in Almelo. The fire released a lot of smoke, residents have been asked to close windows and doors. No injuries were reported and the cause of the fire is unknown at this time.
A Picnic representative emailed Lead Stories on July 14, 2022, saying one of their facilities was destroyed in a fire, but there is no production of anything, including meat, at the facility.
One of Picnic’s cityhubs [sic] … was unfortunately destroyed by fire last night … There is no orderpicking [sic] of any sorts nor any production, let alone of meat … Therefore, it is false to state that ‘that a factory that produced synthetic meat and is owned by Bill Gates, burned down.’
Here are other Lead Stories fact checks on claims referencing Bill Gates.
This article has been archived for your research. The original version from Lead Stories can be found here.
