India’s Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) has launched a pioneering project to cultivate fish, reports The New Indian Express.
The CMFRI, a leading tropical marine research organization, aims to leverage cellular agriculture to address the growing demand for fish while reducing the environmental impact of overfishing and traditional fishing practices.
As reported by local media, CMFRI signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Neat Meatt, a cultivated meat technology solutions provider based in Delhi, to develop a commercially viable process for large-scale production of high-value species like kingfish.
Collaborative goals
The collaboration will see the CMFRI work on genetics, biochemistry, and analytics, while Neat Meatt will optimize cell growth media, develop scaffolds or microcarriers for cell attachment, and establish a platform for commercial-scale operations.
CMFRI Director Dr. A Gopalakrishnan sees this collaboration as a significant milestone in connecting India with leading countries in cultivated meat production. Singapore and the USA have already approved cultivated chicken, and Israel, just two weeks ago, gave the green light to Aleph Farms’ cultivated beef.
The potential of alternative seafood
According to the Good Food Institute India, the country’s smart protein market has the potential to offer a total economic opportunity of $4.2 bn by 2030, while a report by Extrapolate indicates that the cultivated meat market is expected to reach over two billion dollars by 2030.
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has established a regulatory framework for approving, producing, and distributing cultivated meat and other novel foods. However, to our knowledge, FSSAI has not received dossiers for cultivated meat. Cultivated fish companies in the APAC region include Umami Bioworks and Shiok Meats, both from Singapore, and the Chinese biotech CellX.
Regarding other novel food approvals, Perfect Day, a California-based biotech, obtained premarket approval from the FSSAI for its animal-free whey protein in late 2022 after acquiring Sterling Biotech.
Advancing India’s bioeconomy
Meanwhile, to advance the country’s bioeconomy, India’s Department of Biotechnology (DBT) established a dedicated sectoral committee last year to drive substantial investments and propel the smart protein sector, as shown by the State of the Industry Report: Smart Protein in India.
“Alternative seafood has the potential to provide healthy, geographically distributed, and nutritionally dense protein while relieving pressure on ocean ecosystems in the face of human population growth,” says the GFI in its latest alt seafood reports.
