NEW TECH FOODS

Multus Biotechnology‍ has raised $9.5 million in a Series A funding round to build a production facility in the UK for food-safe growth formulations and ingredients for the cultivated meat industry. The investment will also accelerate product development in advanced growth media formulations and food-grade raw materials. The funding includes an equity-free grant of $2.5 million from Innovate UK through the EIC Accelerator. The round was led by Mandi Ventures, including participation from SOSV, Big Idea Ventures, SynBioVen and Asahi Kasei Corp. Multus is a UK-based startup pioneering the design and production of novel growth media formulations and ingredients for the affordable scale-up of cellular agriculture.‍ Multus growth media formulations and ingredients are the foundation of cellular agriculture and allow cells to replace animals in the production of meat, dairy, leather and more. ‍‍Multus’ CEO, Cai Linton, said: “We are excited to use this funding to drive innovation in novel ingredient discovery, intelligent formulation design and food-safe growth media production for the affordable scale-up of the cellular agriculture industry. We are confident that our unique approach to growth media will play a key role in making cultivated meat a sustainable and affordable choice for all.” Julio Benetti, co-founder and managing partner at Mandi Ventures, added: “Multus’ technology has the potential to revolutionise the cultivated meat industry by significantly reducing production costs and accelerating the commercial scale-up of the sector, benefiting cultivated meat producers, consumers and the environment”. #MultusBiotechnology‍ #UK

Precision fermentation ingredient company, Michroma, has closed a $6.4 million seed financing round to bring novel food colouring to market. The start-up will use the funding to advance the commercialisation of sustainable natural colourants, expand R&D capabilities and broaden its ingredient platform. Michroma removes petroleum, which is the base ingredient in mainstream colourants, from the food ingredient value chain. The company’s novel approach creates fungal biofactories to produce small molecules, like colours, more efficiently. The round was led by Supply Change Capital, a food tech venture capital backed by the corporate venture capital arm of General Mills, and was supported by new investor Be8 Ventures, backed by Dr Oetker. Michroma’s CEO and co-founder, Ricky Cassini, said: “We are poised to meet consumer demand for healthier and more sustainable food without petroleum-based ingredients. Unlike the current generation of unstable natural options, like betalains, carminic acid, and anthocyanins, Michroma is producing better-performing natural colourants powered by fungi. This next stage of our development will help us industrialise our fungal platform and enable the world’s transition to natural colours.” Mauricio Braia, Michroma’s CSO and co-founder, commented: “We are leveraging the power and versatility of filamentous fungi with our synbio platform. By combining a unique fungal chassis strain with precision fermentation, we are capable of producing high-value complex molecules with high yields previously unseen in the biotech industry.” #Michroma #Argentina #US

Aleph Farms has acquired a manufacturing facility in Modi’in, Israel, and certain related assets from biotechnology company VBL Therapeutics (VBLT), for an undisclosed sum. Five years after producing the ‘first’ cell-grown minute steak, the company has also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Esco Aster – a vertically-integrated contract manufacturing organisation – to produce cultivated meat in Singapore. Didier Toubia, CEO and co-founder of Aleph Farms, said: “Israel and Singapore are the first two markets where we intend to launch our cultivated thin-cut steak. Building up production capacity quickly in those locations while keeping capital investment lean provides a clear roadmap to scalability.” He added: “Beyond Israel and Singapore, we plan on building additional strategic assets worldwide as part of our effort to bring more security and resilience to food systems”. Existing assets acquired from VBLT will be paired with a technology transfer from Aleph Farms’ pilot production facility in Rehovot, Israel, to increase local output in response to more demand for quality protein. Xiangliang Lin, CEO of Esco Aster and deputy CEO of Esco Lifesciences Group, commented: “Our state-of-the-art facility will enable Aleph Farms to unlock value and ramp up local production in an efficient manner. We look forward to seeing the facility support Aleph Farms’ goals in the future.” This MOU covers the use of Esco Aster’s manufacturing expertise in producing Aleph Farms’ cultivated meat in Singapore, helping the nation work towards its goal of “30 by 30”— the establishment of agri-food capabilities that can satisfy 30% of the island’s nutritional needs locally and sustainably by 2030. Such terms also position Singapore as a focal point for Aleph Farms’ future expansion in Southeast Asia and the broader Asia-Pacific region. “We are proud to be working with Aleph Farms to bring its cultivated steak to Singapore,” said Xiangliang Lin, CEO of Esco Aster and Deputy CEO of Esco Lifesciences Group. “As part of our contract manufacturing MOU, we will work together with religious authorities on obtaining a halal certificate for our facility, enabling our collaboration with Aleph to expand to even more of the broader region.” Aleph Farms also plans to produce different cuts of steak as well as other products based on animal cells, such as cultivated collagen, through additional proprietary capabilities. From a single fertilised egg, the company says it can grow “thousands of tonnes” of cultivated meat. #AlephFarms #Israel #Singapore

Ever After Foods, formerly known as Plurinuva, has launched its patented bioreactor platform to produce cultivated meat. Backed by Israeli food producer, Tnuva Group, the company has developed the “first production platform that can bring cultivated meat to the mass market at scale”. Yaky Yanay, Pluri CEO and president and chairman of Ever After Foods, said: “In less than a year, Ever After Foods developed a solution unlike any other in the market through massive technological advancements that evolved the original biotech-focused technology into a food-grade platform. We see incredible potential for Ever After Foods to transform cells into high-quality cultivated meat products.” The bioreactor system for cultivated meat production tackles the scaling challenges faced by those in the industry. Its manufacturing plants will require lower capital expenditures and lower production costs. According to the company, these will provide a 700% increase in productivity when compared to other cultivated meat technology platforms. Ever After Foods CEO, Eyal Rosenthal, commented: “Current cultivated meat companies all use very similar methods for growing cells and face insurmountable challenges when it comes to scaling production in a cost-effective manner. To achieve cost parity, their methods will demand huge bioreactors of more than 10,000 litres, which are infeasible for use with animal cells.” He continued: “Ever After Foods’ disruptive technology enables significantly higher cultivated meat production capacity, with efficiencies that lower resources and costs. We can currently produce more than 10 kilograms of cultivated meat mass with just a 35-litre bioreactor and have a proven path to scale and reach price parity.” Eyal Malis, CEO of the Tnuva Group, said: “Leveraging its unique production platform, Ever After Foods will transform the food system by reinventing how we produce and consume meat”. Rosenthal added: “This [cultivated meat] is not a fad. Addressing food security, health, sustainability and animal welfare concerns, cultivated meat is the future of food. Our new name, logo and branding underscore our ambition to deliver the future of meat, sustainably, ever after.” #EverAfterFoods #Israel

Nobell Foods has appointed Impossible veteran Sergey Solomatin as its new vice president of food science and product development. Solomatin brings experience spanning nucleic acid biochemistry, biophysics, polymer chemistry and pharmaceutical sciences to his new post at Nobell, a California-based animal-free dairy company that genetically engineers soybeans to produce the dairy protein casein. During a more than decade long tenure at Impossible Foods, Solomatin helped to develop, scale and commercialise the plant-based meat maker’s technology and created the company’s materials and texture research group. “At Nobell Foods, we harness the power of plants to create animal-free cheese with accessibility and craveability at the forefront,” said CEO and founder, Magi Richani. “As we pioneer a new category in food with ‘Plant-Grown Proteins,’ the innovative work that Sergey and his team are doing will enable us to challenge the perceptions of what animal-free cheese tastes, melts and stretches like.” Solomatin added: “As a young company that’s building an entirely new category, Nobell Foods has a huge opportunity to drive real change and create a positive impact on the planet and people. Nobell Foods is already leading the future of food with their work around casein, and I’m beyond honoured to join their innovative team.” #NobellFoods #US

Israel-based Believer Meats has announced the appointment of Gustavo Burger as its new CEO, effective immediately. Gustavo previously served as COO at Believer and succeeds Nicole Johnson-Hoffman who has moved on to pursue other career opportunities. Gustavo brings experience from leadership roles at companies such as BRF, Anheuser-Busch InBev and most recently at The Kraft Heinz Company, where he served as chief supply officer for international operations across various regions. Kash Muthuraman will succeed Gustavo as the company’s new COO, after previously serving as the company's VP of operations. Kash brings experience in strategy, operations and management, having held senior leadership positions at Deloitte and The Kraft Heinz Company where he served as head of sales and operations planning for the US. Gustavo said: "I am honoured and excited to lead Believer as its CEO as we effectively and strategically accelerate our business. We are at the forefront of a new era in food with the dawn of cellular agriculture, and I look forward to working together with our world-class global team to bring our cultivated meat products to consumers around the world." Yaakov Nahmias, founder, president, and chief scientific officer at Believer, commented: "We are thrilled to have Gustavo step into the role of CEO. He has been an instrumental part of the company's growth and success to date, and we are confident that he will successfully lead us as we transition from a food tech start-up to a leading pioneer of a new food category.” In December 2021, Believer Meats – formerly known as Future Meat Technologies – announced that it had raised $347 million in a Series B round of financing. #Israel #BelieverMeats

Eat Just ’s cultivated meat division, Good Meat , has received clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its cell-based chicken. A “no questions” letter shows that the agency has accepted the company’s conclusion that its first poultry product is safe to eat. This marks a key milestone for Good Meat in bringing its cultivated chicken to market in the US and comes more than two years after parent Eat Just secured a historical approval in Singapore. Over the course of many months, Good Meat prepared extensive documentation for the FDA, outlining the safety of and production process for its cultivated chicken. Details included the identity, purity and stability of the chicken cells used. The cultivated meat maker is now working to secure the greenlight from the US Department of Agriculture, after which a restaurant in Washington, owned by chef José Andrés, will become the first in the country to serve the product. “Since Singapore approved Good Meat for sale, we knew this moment was next. I am so proud to bring this new way of making meat to my country and to do it with a hero of mine, chef José Andrés,” said Josh Tetrick, co-founder and CEO of Good Meat and Eat Just. Andrés, who is part of the company’s board of directors, commented: “The future of our planet depends on how we feed ourselves, and we have a responsibility to look beyond the horizon for smarter, sustainable ways to eat. Good Meat is doing just that, pushing the boundary on innovative new solutions, and I’m excited for everyone to taste the result.” #GoodMeat #FDA #US

Cell-based meat company New Age Eats, formerly New Age Meats, has announced that it is shutting down after failing to secure investment. Berkeley-based New Age Eats was founded in 2018 by Brian Spears, with the aim of developing technology to produce meat from animal cells. Spears, who is also CEO, wrote in a LinkedIn post: “In our regulated industry, we can’t and won’t be able to sell for a while. Without revenue, we rely on other sources of capital. “Investors proved to be the most efficient way to validate whether cultivated meat would be commercially viable. Unfortunately, with recent capital market turmoil, we have been unable to attract investment.” In September 2021, the company announced that it had secured $25 million in a Series A funding round, as it looked to commercialise its first cultured meat products in 2022. However, Spears stated that creating the experience of meat using cell-based technology is “extremely difficult” and the development of a low-cost, high-volume process takes time and a lot of “patient capital”. He added: “As the CEO, I take ultimate responsibility for this shutdown. When we started around five years ago, we had no blueprint to develop and commercialise cultivated meat. I am grateful to everyone who supported our brilliant, talented team as we learnt along the way.” Cultivated meat is not yet commercially available in the US, although there are a number of players working to bring it to market. Eat Just unit, Good Meat, recently received clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration for its cell-based chicken, following in the footsteps of Upside Foods. Companies must secure approval from both the FDA and the US Department of Agriculture before they can sell their products. Spears concluded: “As for me, I will take time to sit and learn from the founder journey. It has been the best and worst thing I have ever done…The toll on my mental health to gain these perspectives over the years has been tremendous. I am encouraged that mental health – including of founders – is being more openly discussed.” #NewAgeEats

Italy’s government has backed a bill banning the use of cell-based food, it announced in a conference on Tuesday. If the proposal is passed by parliament, companies in Italy will not be allowed to produce food or feed “from cell cultures or tissues derived from vertebrate animals,” the bill seen by Reuters stated. A breach of the rules could result in fines of up to €60,000. Agriculture Minister, Francesco Lollobrigida, said in the conference that Italy is the first nation to say no to “synthetic” food. He added that laboratory products do not guarantee quality or wellbeing, nor protect Italy’s culture and traditions. The Minister also stated that if cultivated food production were to succeed in establishing itself, it would produce greater unemployment. Mathilde Alexandre, ProVeg Cell-Ag project coordinator, commented: “The bill introduced by the Italian government to ban cultivated meat is a draconian measure that ignores the massive economic and environmental potential that cultivated meat holds”. She added: “Cultivated meat is an important new technology that can positively affect the food system by reducing carbon emissions and pollution, and supports animal welfare and biodiversity, while being a real lever for economic growth”. The news comes just a little over a week after Eat Just’s cultivated meat division, Good Meat, announced that it had received clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration for its cell-based chicken. Alice Ravenscroft, head of policy at the Good Food Institute Europe, said that the passing of the law would shut down the economic potential of the field in Italy, “holding back scientific progress and climate mitigation efforts, and limiting consumer choice”. #Italy

Steakholder Foods – a deep-tech company that develops complex cultured meat using advanced 3D printing technologies – has announced its participation in a strategic investment round in Wilk Technologies. The financing round is led by Danone and includes participation from Central Bottling Company, also known as Coca-Cola Israel. According to The Times Israel, Danone Manifesto Ventures, the corporate venture arm of the French food giant, has funded $2 million out of the $3.5 million investment. A Danone spokesperson told FoodBev: “As the global leader in our categories, we are always exploring new and emerging science-led technologies. Wilk’s expertise is relevant to our dairy, plant-based and specialised nutrition offerings, and while it is early days, we believe their work in this area can contribute to our research, innovation and product development.” Founded in 2020, Wilk holds a number of patent applications on laboratory production processes that replicate the milk-producing cells of humans and other mammals in order to create 100% real milk and milk components in a laboratory environment. Steakholder Foods purchased ordinary shares of Wilk for $450,000 at a 15% discount below their 45-day average closing price, resulting in a 2.5% ownership stake in Wilk. Additionally, Steakholder Foods said it aims to identify business opportunities with Wilk, including strategic cooperation on its proprietary biology and printing technologies. Arik Kaufman, CEO of Steakholder Foods, commented: “We’re extremely excited to announce our strategic collaboration with Wilk. As part of our commitment to sustainable foods solutions, we see this collaboration as another step in expanding Steakholder Foods’ growing contribution to the food-tech ecosystem and a strategic step in the optimisation of our investment and holding structure.” #SteakholderFoods #Wilk #Israel

This week, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), in collaboration with WHO, published its first global report on the food safety aspects of cell-based products. The report aims to provide a solid scientific basis to begin establishing regulatory frameworks and effective systems to ensure the safety of alternative proteins. Corinna Hawkes, director of the FAO’s food systems and food safety division, said: “FAO, together with WHO, supports its members by providing scientific advice that can be useful for food safety competent authorities to use as a basis to manage various food safety issues”. In a statement, the FAO said: “Cell-based foods are not futuristic foods. More than 100 companies/start-ups are already developing cell-based food products that are ready for commercialisation and awaiting approval.” The report states that these spurring food system innovations are in response to “tremendous food challenges” relating to the world population reaching 9.8 billion in 2050. As some cell-based food products are already under various stages of development, the report says that it is “critical to objectively assess the benefits they might bring, as well as any risks associated with them – including food safety and quality concerns”. The report, titled Food Safety Aspects of Cell-Based Food, includes a literature synthesis of relevant terminology issues, principles of cell-based food production processes, the global landscape of regulatory frameworks, and case studies from Israel, Qatar and Singapore “to highlight different scopes, structures and contexts surrounding their regulatory frameworks for cell-based food”. The publication includes the results of an FAO-led expert consultation that was held in Singapore in November last year, where a comprehensive food safety hazard identification was conducted – hazard identification being the first step of the formal risk assessment process. The hazard identification covered four stages of the cell-based food production process: cell sourcing, cell growth and production, cell harvesting, and food processing. Experts agreed that while many hazards are already well known and exist equally in conventionally produced food, the focus may need to be put on the specific materials, inputs, ingredients – including potential allergens – and equipment that are more unique to cell-based food production. Although FAO refers to “cell-based foods,” the report acknowledges that ‘cultivated’ and ‘cultured’ are also terms commonly used within the industry. FAO urges national regulatory bodies to establish clear and consistent language to mitigate miscommunication, which is crucial for labelling. The report suggests that a case-by-case approach to food safety assessments of cell-based food products is suitable as, although generalisations can be made about the production process, each product could employ different cell sources, scaffolds or microcarriers, culture media compositions, cultivation conditions and reactor designs. It also states that in most countries, cell-based foods can be assessed within existing novel food frameworks, citing Singapore’s amendments to its novel food regulations to include cell-based foods and the US’s formal agreement on labelling and safety requirements for food made from cultured cells of livestock and poultry, as examples. It adds that the USDA has stated its intent to draw up regulations on the labelling of meat and poultry products derived from animal cells. According to FAO, “there is currently a limited amount of information and data on the food safety aspects of cell-based foods to support regulators in making informed decisions”. The report notes that more data generation and sharing at the global level are essential to creating an atmosphere of openness and trust, to enable the positive engagement of all stakeholders. It also says that international collaborative efforts would benefit various food safety competent authorities, particularly those in low- and middle-income countries, to employ an evidence-based approach to prepare any necessary regulatory actions. It finishes by stating that besides food safety, other subject areas such as terminology, regulatory frameworks, nutrition aspects, consumer perception and acceptance (including taste and affordability) are just as important, and possibly even more important in terms of introducing this technology into the marketplace. For the expert consultation held in Singapore from 1 to 4 November last year, FAO issued an open global call for experts from 1 April to 15 June 2022, in order to form a group of experts with multidisciplinary fields of expertise and experience. A total of 138 experts applied and an independent selection panel reviewed and ranked the applications based on pre-set criteria – 33 applicants were shortlisted. Among them, 26 completed and signed a ‘Confidentiality Undertaking and Declaration of Interest’ form, and after the evaluation of all disclosed interests, candidates with no perceived conflict of interest were listed as experts, while candidates with a relevant background on the matter and that could be perceived as a potential conflict of interest were listed as resource people. The technical panel experts are: Anil Kumar Anal, professor, Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand William Chen, endowed professor and director of food science and technology, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (vice chair) Deepak Choudhury, senior scientist of biomanufacturing technology, Bioprocessing Technology Institute, Agency for Science, Technology and Research, Singapore Sghaier Chriki, associate professor, Institut Supérieur de l’Agriculture Rhône-Alpes, researcher, National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment, France (working group vice chair) Marie-Pierre Ellies-Oury, assistant professor, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique et de L’Environnement and Bordeaux Sciences Agro, France Jeremiah Fasano, senior policy advisor, United States Food and Drug Administration, US (chair) Mukunda Goswami, principal scientist, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, India William Hallman, professor and chair, Rutgers University, US Geoffrey Muriira Karau, director quality assurance and inspection, Bureau of Standards, Kenya Martín Alfredo Lema, biotechnologist, National University of Quilmes, Argentina (vice chair) Reza Ovissipour, assistant professor, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, US Christopher Simuntala, senior biosafety officer, National Biosafety Authority, Zambia Yongning Wu, chief scientist, National Center for Food Safety Risk Assessment, China #FAO #WHO

ADM and Believer Meats have signed a non-exclusive memorandum of understanding (MOU) to collaborate on driving the development and commercialisation of cultivated meat products. Nutrition company ADM will work with Believer, formerly known as Future Meat Technologies, to explore new ingredients and solutions for the cultivated meat market. Leticia Gonçalves, ADM’s president of global foods, commented: “With a global population expected to reach 10 billion by 2050, ADM is working with partners across the value chain to meet food security and sustainability needs by expanding the protein ecosystem”. Gonçalves added that cultivated meat represents an “exciting evolution” and another way of meeting long-term food security needs, alongside other traditional and novel sources of protein. Gustavo Burger, CEO of Believer, said: “Believer is thrilled to partner with ADM in driving innovation to expand the emerging cultivated meat industry”. He added: “By pairing ADM’s leading expertise in ingredient application development, and [the] complete nutrition solutions they bring to their customers, with our groundbreaking cell cultivation technology…we aim to accelerate the development and commercialisation of high-quality, safe and delicious meat products that deliver on the increasing demands of our growing global population. Together, we have a unique opportunity to shape the future of the protein industry and create a more sustainable food system for generations to come.” The MOU follows recent news of a bill backed by the Italian government to ban the use of cell-based food, as the country’s authorities look to safeguard Italy’s agri-food heritage. #BelieverMeats #ADM #Israel