A close up of a man's hands tearing apart a piece of 3D printer plant-based beef steak to show the muscle-like fibres.

© Steakholder Foods

Studies & Numbers

Slowdown in Patent Applications for Cultivated & Plant-Based Meat Signals Levelling After Hype Cycle Peak

Analyses by IP firm Appleyard Lees reveal that patent applications for cultivated meat have plateaued following a period of significant growth, while plant-based meat patent applications have fallen for the first time since 2013. While the slowdown in patent applications is likely to be piggybacked by those keen to portray alternative protein as failing or on its knees, these findings can be viewed effectively through the lens of the Gartner …

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Happy Ocean Foods

© Happy Ocean Foods

Seafood

Future Ocean Foods Expands Membership, Welcoming 17 New Companies

Future Ocean Foods, the only global association dedicated to alternative seafood, has announced the addition of 17 new members to its growing network. The organization, which was established to promote food security, human health, environmental sustainability, and ocean conservation, now represents 53 companies across 17 countries. The new members include firms working in plant-based, fermentation, and cultivated food sectors. Marissa Bronfman, founder and executive director of Future Ocean Foods commented, …

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Pluri develops cell-based coffee at industrial scale

© Pluri

Plant Cell Cultivation

Coffee Without Beans, Chocolate Without Cocoa – The Companies Making Plants from Cells (and why we need them)

Plant cell cultivation is revolutionizing the production of various crops by growing plant cells in controlled environments, such as bioreactors, to produce plant-based products. Why do we need plant cell cultivation technology? Demand for commodities like coffee and chocolate continues to grow as Earth’s populace continues to hurtle towards a figure of 9.8 billion projected for 2050. Meanwhile, the area of land suitable for growing such crops is rapidly shrinking. …

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UMAMI Bioworks and Shiok Meats, have merged to establish a combined entity that will bring cultivated seafood closer to commercial viability.

© UMAMI Bioworks

Meat

Roundup: The Biggest News in Cultivated Meat and Seafood from the 1st Half of 2024

Although the cellular agriculture industry is traversing a consolidation phase and is facing the challenge of slower investor interest, the sector is building itself from the ground up, achieving all sorts of significant milestones — the first steps of what is set to become the fourth agricultural revolution. Here we look back on the biggest news stories in cultivated meat and seafood from H1 2024, and there have been several …

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Raw potato on color background

©Pixel-Shot-stock.abobe.com

Ingredients

10 Molecular Farming Startups Transforming Everyday Plants into Protein Powerhouses

Today, we bring you a roundup of molecular farming startups transforming plants into biofactories to produce alternatives to animal proteins, pigments, next-gen sweeteners, and growth factors. Plant molecular farming, an additional production approach to plant-based, cultivated, and fermentation, promises unlimited and cost-effective ingredients for food and other industries. Since it doesn’t require expensive infrastructure and bioreactors — only the magic of plants and bioengineering —  existing greenhouses and fields can become ingredient factories, ensuring …

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GOOD Meat - Image courtesy of GFI

Approvals

Cultivated Meat: Approvals and Prohibitions Since Singapore’s Pioneering Step in 2020

Since Singapore became the first country to approve cultivated meat in 2020, a favorable regulatory environment has been growing in some nations while others have opted to ban the technology. Currently, worldwide, 174 companies are developing cultivated meat from cells, rather than farming animals or fishing. This milestone signifies a major achievement for an emerging industry that has had to build practically everything from the bottom up. Today’s summary highlights the world’s …

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The Vegetarian Butcher X EVERY Company

© The Vegetarian Butcher

Eggs

The Vegetarian Butcher to Veganize Products With The EVERY Co.’s Animal-Free Egg Whites

The Vegetarian Butcher, part of Unilever, is partnering with The EVERY Company to enhance the texture and nutritional profile of its plant-based meat alternatives using The EVERY Company’s EVERY EggWhite. This proprietary ingredient, derived from precision fermentation, mimics the binding properties of conventional eggs without involving any animal components. Formerly known as Clara Foods, EVERY has pioneered the development of animal-free egg products through a fermentation process that utilizes yeast …

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fermentation

© nordroden - stock.adobe.com

Market & Trends

Report Identifies 5 Disruptive Technologies to Shake Up Fermentation Industry

Following a comprehensive review of the fermentation sector, Lever VC, a leading venture capital firm specializing in alternative protein investments, announces the release of its latest report highlighting the top technologies that could advance the production of fermented food and ingredients. Lever VC argues that despite notable advancements in CRISPR gene editing, AI and machine learning for bioinformatics systems, and high-throughput screening technologies, challenges remain in scaling up biological processes and …

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SuperMeat's chicken cell line process meets Kosher meat Mehadrin standards

The Chicken @ SuperMeat

Manufacturing & Technology

New GFI Report Reveals Current Trends in Cultivated Meat Production & Scaling

The Good Food Institute has released a new report, Trends in Cultivated Meat Scale-Up and Bioprocessing, that provides valuable insights into the production of cultivated meat. The report summarizes the findings of a comprehensive 2023 survey of 30 cultivated meat companies and equipment providers, which was conducted to uncover trends in equipment and material usage, production facilities, food safety, and scaling strategies. The following are the key findings of GFI’s survey. The complete report …

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Celium cultivated cellulose

© Celium

Materials

Polybion Creates “Entirely New Category” With Global Launch of Celium Cultivated Cellulose

Spanish biomaterials producer Polybion has announced that its cultivated cellulose, Celium, is now available worldwide. The company claims the material is more than a leather alternative, and will create an “entirely new category” due to its unique properties. Celium is grown by feeding bacteria with agroindustrial fruit waste; the cells then self-organize and create a cellulose structure as a metabolic by-product. This structure undergoes a sustainable stabilization process, and the …

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