July 2023: The Month in Review

Good Meat's cultivated chicken at the restaurant China Chilcano by Jose Andres

Following historic regulatory approvals last month, this July marked a strong start to the third quarter for the cellular agriculture field. Along with the first cultivated meat product launches in the US, this month also showed progress in bringing cultivated meat products to consumers in Europe.

With new partnerships and regulatory advancements, we look at what happened this month in cellular agriculture.

Investments

Fermify

Precision fermentation startup Fermify announced the extension of its seed funding round to develop its cell-cultured casein dairy protein platform. Fermify announced additional investments and partnerships with German ingredients supplier Cremer and global food distribution company Interfood.

Fermify team

Known for supplying plant-based raw materials, Cremer will collaborate with Fermify to develop cell culture media solutions and optimize its production process. Similarly, Interfood distributes over 1.1 million metric tons of dairy ingredients annually and aims to expand into sustainable protein solutions. Fermify previously raised $5 million in seed funding in May 2023.

Nourish Ingredients Receives Australian Grant to Develop Local Talent Ecosystem

Australian cell-cultured fat startup Nourish Ingredients announced that the startup received $3.9 million (AUD $5.8 million) in grant funding from the Australian government to support its innovative precision fermentation work and develop local talent in the synthetic biology and precision fermentation industry. In addition to the grant funding, Nourish Ingredients shared its plans to launch its first product, a cell-cultured animal-like fat, to improve a product’s taste and aroma in late 2024.

Nourish Ingredients team

Nourish is first looking into the US and Singapore and submitting its regulatory applications. In October 2022, Nourish Ingredients raised $28.6 million in Series A funding. At the time, the startup expected its first cultured fat products to go into alternative protein products and specialty foods by 2023.

Upside Foods Launches Cultivated Chicken at Bar Crenn in San Francisco

At the start of July, Upside Foods launched its cell-cultivated chicken product at Bar Crenn in San Francisco, California. Following the regulatory approval alongside Good Meat in June, Upside Foods states that the product launch was the first-ever consumer sale of cell-based meat in the US. Chef Crenn prepared Upside Foods’ cell-cultivated chicken by frying it in a tempura batter and served in a black ceramic vessel with edible flowers and greens.

Upside Foods' cultivated chicken at Bar Crenn

Interestingly, the event marks the first time Chef Crenn has reintroduced meat to her menu since it was removed from her restaurants in 2018. The first consumers were selected from Upside Foods’ social media content to try its product.

Good Meat Launches Cultivated Chicken in Washington, DC

On July 5th, Good Meat launched its cell-cultivated chicken product at the restaurant China Chilcano by Jose Andres in Washington, D.C. The dinner marked the first-ever sale of Good Meat’s cell-based chicken in the United States. Interestingly, the dinner honored the late Willem van Eelen, often referred to as the ‘godfather of cultured meat,’ on what would have been his 100th birthday celebration.

Good Meat's cultivated chicken skewers at China Chilcano

Attendees for the dinner included van Eelen’s daughter, Ira van Eelen, and his grandson. The restaurant served a new dish called ‘Anticuchos de Pollo’ that featured Good Meats’ cell-cultivated chicken marinated with anticuchos sauce. Good Meat previously became the first company to receive regulatory approval and launch its cell-cultured chicken in Singapore in 2020. China Chilcano will open reservations to try its new cell-cultured product on July 25. 

Galy Partners with Suzuran Medical Inc. for Cell-Cultured Cotton

Beyond food, cellular agriculture can be used to create a wide range of products, including materials like cotton. Earlier in July, cellular agriculture cotton company Galy announced a partnership with Japanese manufacturer Suzuran Medical Inc. to purchase and use its cell-cultured cotton product.

Based between Boston, Massachusetts, and Sao Paulo, Brazil, Galy used cellular agriculture, specifically plant cell cultures, to produce cell-cultured cotton fibers.

According to the announcement, Suzuran Medical plans to purchase thousands of tons of Galy’s cell-cultured cotton, branded ‘Literally Cotton,’ as part of a 10-year partnership valued at $50 million.

Compared to previous cellular agriculture company partnership agreements, Galy’s partnership with Suzuran Medical is the first one where the companies disclosed the value of the long-term agreement and purchase order.

Having worked with Galy since the startup showcased its proof of concept in 2021, Suzuran Medical plans to use Galy’s cotton in various products, including cotton sheets and medical products like gauze and absorbent cotton.

It is important to note that the long-term partnership will only commence once Galy launches its first commercial-scale facility. Galy did not share a timeline for when the company plans to scale and establish a commercial facility.

Scaling production of cellular agriculture products, including biomaterials, has been a major challenge for the field. It will be interesting to see how Galy addresses its scaling challenges to reach the scale that Suzuran Medical requires.

Interestingly, in a previous interview with a different plant cell-culturing startup, California Cultured claims using a plant cell-culturing platform would be more efficient to scale and commercialize than cell-based meat.

Ivy Farm Partners with Finnebrague to develop Cell-Based Wagyu Beef

British startup Ivy Farm announced a partnership with UK food company Finnebrogue to develop cell-based Wagyu beef burgers. The partnership aims to produce cell-cultured Wagyu beef from cells taken from Finnebrogue’s Wagyu cattle herd in County Down, Northern Ireland. Ivy Farm previously showcased its cell-cultured British pork and Aberdeen Angus beef products.

In August 2022, Ivy Farm launched its pilot production plant in Oxford with a production capacity of 2.8 tonnes of cell-based meat annually. Considering more favorable regulatory environments in Singapore and the US, Ivy Farm previously stated its plan to set up its commercial-scale facility overseas.

Magic Valley Partners with Biocellion to Design Bioreactors

Australian cell-based meat company Magic Valley announced a partnership with computer modeling firm Biocellion to develop and design efficient bioreactors. Based in the US, Biocellion supports companies with virtual experiments to reduce research costs and time. Using computer modeling, the two companies aim to reduce the cost and time of developing efficient bioreactor designs for Magic Valley’s cell-based lamb at scale.

Interestingly, Biocellion is a member of the Cultivated Meat Modeling Consortium, which published a paper developing a computer model to simulate bioreactor systems for cell-based meat production in August 2020. Magic Valley previously showcased its cell-based lamb prototype in September 2022.

Steakholder Foods Announces Partnership with GCC Government

At the end of July, Steakholder Foods announced that the cell-based meat company signed a partnership with a governmental group based in the Gulf region of the Middle East for its 3D-printer technology to produce cell-cultured seafood and meat.

According to the Memorandum of Agreement for Strategic Cooperation (MOA), the partnership will begin with an investment by the strategic partner in constructing a pilot plant to produce cell-cultured 3D-printed hybrid fish products.

The MOA ultimately aims to create the region's first large-scale production facility. Steakholder Foods notes that the partnership marks the company's first income stream.

Netherlands Enables Code of Practice to Allow Cultured Meat Tastings

At the start of July, the Netherlands government announced a code of practice enabling cell-based meat samplings and tastings in the country under limited conditions.

The code of practice, developed in collaboration with cell-based meat producers and sector representative HollandBIO, makes the Netherlands the first country in the European Union to allow pre-approval tastings of cell-based meat.

According to the announcement, the Dutch industry organization Cellular Agriculture Netherlands will be responsible for implementing the code of practice and will hire a panel of experts to evaluate tasting requests by cell-cultivated meat and seafood companies.

In April 2022, the Dutch government announced €60 million in funding to Cellular Agriculture Netherlands, the largest public funding to date for the field, to support the formation of a cellular agriculture ecosystem in the Netherlands.

The development of the code of practice follows a motion in the Dutch parliament in March 2022 to legalize the sampling of cell-based meat products. While this motion passed, cell-based meat tastings had already been taking place for years in the United States, Singapore, and Israel.

Based on the conditions in which companies can conduct taste tests, it could be interesting to see if companies like Meatable and Mosa Meat can launch test kitchens similar to SuperMeat’s The Chicken in Israel to allow public samplings before regulatory approval.

The Dutch government’s announcement follows the United States becoming the second country in the world after Singapore to give regulatory approval for selling cell-cultivated meat.

Aleph Farms Submit Regulatory Dossier in Switzerland

At the end of July, Aleph Farms shared that the cell-based meat company submitted its application for regulatory approval in Switzerland.

According to the announcement, Aleph Farms’ submission to the Swiss Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office is the first time a cell-cultured meat company has submitted a regulatory dossier for approval in Europe.

Aleph Farms' cell-cultivated beef steak

The regulatory submission is part of Aleph Farms’ collaboration with Migros, Switzerland’s largest retail supermarket chain and leading meat manufacturer. Migros previously invested in Aleph Farms in 2019.

Both Aleph Farms and Migros conducted consumer research in Switzerland, which found that 74% of Swiss consumers are open to trying cultivated meat, motivated chiefly by curiosity and sustainability interests.

As part of the agreement, the two companies will develop a go-to-market strategy to distribute and commercialize Aleph Farms’ cell-based beef steak products, branded as Aleph Cuts, through fine dining food service channels in Switzerland.

Aleph Farms also plans to leverage the expertise and infrastructure of food production leaders, including Migros, to accelerate scale-up and commercialization globally. In September 2021, Migros announced the Cultured Food Innovation Hub in Switzerland with Buhler and Givaudan.

While it is unclear how long the regulatory approval process will take in Switzerland for a novel food like cell-based meat, Aleph Farms plans to launch its Aleph Cuts cell-cultured beef steak products in Singapore and Israel before the end of the year in limited quantities, pending regulatory approval.

In addition, it is important to note that regulatory approval in Switzerland does not translate into regulatory approval across the European Union.

As of May 2023, no company has submitted a scientific dossier to the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) for regulatory approval across the European Union.

Re:meat Launches in Sweden to produce Cultivated Meat

New startup Re:meat emerged from stealth mode in Sweden by showcasing the first cell-cultured Swedish meatball. Founded in 2022 by Jacob Schaldemose Peterson, Marie Gibbons, and Gittan Schiöld, Re:meat aims to build Scandinavia’s first large-scale production facility for cell-based meat, with an initial focus on beef. Re:meat shared that it developed its meatball prototype using its patent-pending serum-free technology platform. The company plans to scale its platform to large-scale production in a pilot facility and establish the plant in 2024 in collaboration with future partners.

Pow.bio Explores Continuous Processing for Precision Fermentation

The startup Pow.bio aims to make precision fermentation production more efficient through continuous processing, in which input ingredients and output products are added and harvested at a steady rate. Compared to traditional batch fermentation, where an entire bioreactor is harvested before the process starts again, Pow.bio claims continuous processing can increase a bioprocess facility’s productivity by 5 to 10 times and reduce its CapEx and OpEx by requiring smaller bioreactors. While Pow.bio acknowledges the increased risk of contamination and strain mutation through continuous processing, the company claims its innovative process can reduce the risk.

Pow.bio co-founders

The Cultivated B Launches Industrial-Grade Bioreactors

Bioprocessing startup The Cultivated B (TCB) announced the launch of its AUXO V industrial-grade bioreactor from its Burlington, Ontario, Canada facility. Compared to other bioreactor delivery times of up to two years, TCB claims its rapid-delivery manufacturing system can deliver its bioreactors in two to four weeks.

TCB shared that its multi-use bioreactors vary in size from lab scale to industrial scale up to 25,000 liters. TCB first announced the opening of its 130,000-square-foot Canadian manufacturing facility in October 2022 alongside a partnership with Ontario Genomics.

Alternative Protein Association Published Labeling Report in the UK

In July, the UK-based Alternative Protein Association (APA) published its “Recommendations on the Labelling of Alternative Proteins” report. Labeling has consistently been a contentious topic for alternative protein products, particularly for dairy alternatives and cell-cultured meat, and the APA’s report provides practical recommendations for the industry. Considering that the UK government is currently exploring potential labeling restrictions for plant-based dairy products, the APA report calls on the government not to limit terms but to support the novel field instead.

Formo Conducts Consumer Perception Survey in England

Cellular agriculture dairy company Formo partnered with the University of Saskatchewan in Canada to research the market impact of launching cell-cultured dairy cheese via precision fermentation. After surveying 1,249 UK residents, the study concluded that cell-cultured dairy cheese would replace a significant part of conventional dairy cheese consumption.

At a 25% price premium, the study predicts that cell-cultured dairy cheese will capture a 22% market share. The study further predicts that 33% of the cheese market share will be captured once cell-cultured dairy cheese reaches price parity. The paper illustrates that better alternatives to conventional dairy cheese will have a greater impact than increasing cheese prices in reducing consumption. The research paper was published in the International Food and Agribusiness Management Review Journal.

Perfect Day Shares Plan to Sell Off The Urgent Company

Cellular agriculture dairy company Perfect Day shared its plans to sell off its consumer-facing products arm, The Urgent Company, to focus on its primary cell-cultured ingredients business and its enterprise biology arm.

According to the announcement, Perfect Day claims it initially launched The Urgent Company to showcase its precision fermentation technology platform and validate consumer demand interest in its cell-cultured dairy products.

Perfect Day's Brave Robot product line through The Urgent Company

Having demonstrated market adoption through its brands and partnerships, Perfect Day stated its aim to return to developing partnerships with other food companies to commercialize its dairy proteins as an ingredients supplier.

Perfect Day first launched The Urgent Company in July 2020 with its Brave Robot ice cream, which uses cell-cultured dairy whey proteins. 

Since then, The Urgent Company has launched several other brands using Perfect Day’s cell-cultured dairy whey protein, including Modern Kitchen’s cream cheese and California Performance’s whey protein powder.

Perfect Day also acquired the ice cream brand Coolhaus through The Urgent Company in December 2021 and first commercialized in Singapore through the brand in August 2022.

Moving forward, Perfect Day claims the company is in discussions with both CPG companies and financial buyers interested in buying the whole The Urgent Company entity or individual brands.

While selling its consumer brands arm, Perfect Day shared the company will continue to advance its enterprise biology business, nth Bio, to help other companies scale up the production of their precision fermentation products.

During this transitionary period, it will be important that the company continues to support its employees. Perfect Day previously conducted layoffs earlier this year as well.

New Harvest Announces Relaunch of Cellular Agriculture Canada

Cellular agriculture nonprofit New Harvest announced the relaunch of Cellular Agriculture Canada (CAC). After absorbing the nonprofit CAC at the end of last year, New Harvest Canada decided to relaunch CAC as an industry coalition following a workshop earlier in the summer that brought together 30 different Canadian organizations.

Addressing the need for an industry coalition, CAC aims to be a platform to educate the public about the Canadian ecosystem as well as highlight actions to help position Canada as a global leader in the field.

Disclosure: Ahmed Khan was one of the co-founders of the original CAC nonprofit and is not active in the re-launched organization.

Bolt Threads Halts Mylo Product Line

Biomaterials company Bolt Threads announced halting production of its Mylo product line. Compared to its cell-cultured spider silk products, Bolt Threads’ Mylo leather alternative was made from mycelium, the root structure of mushrooms.

According to the company, Mylo was “devastatingly close” to commercial scale but had to halt operations due to waning funding opportunities and inflation. Bolt Threads claims Mylo had a manufacturing capacity of 1 million square feet per year before ceasing production.

Through the Mylo Consortium, Bolt Threads previously announced various partnerships to commercialize its Mylo product line, including with Stella McCarthy and Lululemon. Bolt Threads also underwent two rounds of layoffs so far in 2023.

Conclusion

From various partnerships to the first US-based cultivated meat product launches, this July showed progress in moving regulation forward for the cell-based meat industry.

As the country where many of the first cellular agriculture companies were founded, the US launches for Upside Foods and Good Meat mark a historic moment for the field and demonstrate a clear path to market for other companies.

In addition, in Europe, it is promising to see Aleph Farms become the first company to submit a regulatory dossier in Switzerland. While not part of the European Union, Aleph Farms’ submission marks the first disclosed dossier in Europe and shows the company's progress in bringing cultivated meat to market in a European country.

Similarly, as one of the leaders in the cellular agriculture field from its early days, it’s promising to see the Dutch government take the initiative to enable cultured meat tastings in the country. In addition to the initiative to develop a cellular agriculture ecosystem in the country in April 2022, enabling tastings can further position the Netherlands as a leading global hub for the field.

Considering the regulatory environment in Europe, in October 2022, both Mosa Meat and Meatable announced plans to launch their cell-cultured meat products in Singapore first. In May 2023, Meatable conducted its first-ever taste test of its cell-based pork sausage in Singapore.