NEW TECH FOODS

Singapore-based cultivated seafood company Umami Meats has revealed its new identity as Umami Bioworks.

The company launched in 2020, aiming to develop an efficient and cost-effective process for producing cell-based fish using cell lines from endangered species, in serum-free media and at scale.

Umami Bioworks’ CEO, Mihir Pershad, said: “In 2020, we began with a simple vision: to deliver on the promise of cultivated seafood by developing a B2B business that solved critical bottlenecks in the supply chain and path to scale. We started with development of cell lines from endangered species of fish optimised to grow in serum-free media and in large-scale conditions.”

Pershad explained the new name: "Umami’ is a Japanese term that translates to ‘the essence of deliciousness,’ and at its core, it evokes the mouth-watering flavours and delicious aromas of the world-class seafood we will deliver”.

He continued: “In the Industrial Revolution, the ironworks and later the steelworks brought an integrated manufacturing and engineering approach to crafting the building blocks of modern industry. Now, we intend to bring that same engineering and manufacturing-led thinking to scale the cultivation of animal cells through our bioworks”.

With renewed commitment to delivering scalability and impact, Umami Bioworks aims to serve as the discovery and development platform for cell-based seafood and beyond. The company hopes to accelerate the discovery and industrialisation of novel cell cultivation inputs and processes with Alkemyst, it’s machine learning-based optimisation platform.

Alkemyst can constantly analyse data, identify patterns and optimise R&D and scale-up parameters in areas including cell line selection, media development and process controls. It can simulate and predict outcomes with digital twin technology, allowing a reduction in the amount of screening and scale-up experiments needed, saving time and resources. The use of Alkemyst also enables the transfer of learnings from one species to the other, improving the efficiency at which Umami Bioworks can develop new products.