CELLULAR AGRICULTURE
What You Need to Know
The exciting, emerging field of Cellular Agriculture is in it's infancy but offers huge potential to completely transform how we consume animal proteins.Â
It has the potential to:
1. Halt & reverse habitat destruction currently linked to conventional industrial animal protein production.
2.To democratize access to protein for billions of people in developing nations
3. To the end the animal cruelty and human rights abuses/supply chain conflict directly attributed to mass industrial animal based protein production today.
The benefits and potential of this industry are exponential, with huge opportunity for future forward careers and food secure cities.
1. TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT
To scale cellular agriculture, it is important to continue to invest in research and development to improve the efficiency and scalability of the technology. This includes developing better bioreactor systems, optimizing cell growth and differentiation, and reducing the cost of production. CF Foods Group has developed cell lines that are non-gmo, myoblast based and do not use any animal based growth factor/serums.
2. HOW CAN I TRYÂ CF FOODS GROUP CULTIVATED MEAT?
Please reach out directly to learn more about our product development and partnership/demo opportunities.
3. REGULATORY APPROVAL
As cellular agriculture products are a relatively new concept, it is important to ensure that they meet safety and quality standards before they can be sold to consumers. Regulatory approval is essential to gaining public trust and acceptance. Singapore became the first country in the world to develop a regulatory framework for cultivated meat in December 2020. Other South East Asian countries have now written it into their 5 year food frameworks and the FDA is the US approved two companies applications in the past six months. In the US companies would also require USDA approval before they can go to market. If you are interested in cellular cultivated meat being available for sale where you leave, please engage with local lobbies and food regulatory boards to show support for industry regulation.
4. CULTIVATED MEAT ADOPTION
Cellular agriculture products will only be successful if there is demand for them from consumers. Companies in this space need to invest in educating consumers about the benefits of these products, such as their sustainability and potential health benefits. In addition companies need to be transparent and educate consumers on the processes of producing cultivated meat vs. conventional meat.
5. PRICE PARITY
The cost of producing cellular agriculture products needs to be reduced in order to make them competitive with traditional animal products. This can be achieved through advancements in technology and economies of scale. Conventional meat is currently highly subsidized. If governments subsidize cultivated meat and assist with infrastructure development this will also massively reduce costs to enable consumer adoption.
6. COLLABORATION
Collaboration between companies, researchers, and regulators is essential to scale cellular agriculture. By working together, stakeholders can share knowledge, resources, and expertise to accelerate progress in the field. To date it has been difficult for startups to collaborate in the space as VC has taken an I.P. focused look at the industry and treated it more like traditional biotech than food. As we start to treat and work more like a food product, companies should be able to collaborate more as the I.P has little long-term value versus getting products into consumers hands and plates. CF Foods Group is currently working on the world's first cell-cultivated co-working pilot facility in Singapore, "CoCre8". If you'd like to learn more or get involved, please reach out.
7. NEXT STEPS
Overall, scaling cellular agriculture will require a combination of technological advancements, regulatory approval, consumer acceptance, cost reduction, and collaboration. As the field continues to evolve, it is likely that new challenges and opportunities will arise, and stakeholders will need to remain agile and adaptable to overcome these obstacles. There is huge opportunity for entrepreneurs and innovators to join in solving these problems to create a safer, cleaner, kinder food system for all people and animals.