NEW TECH FOODS

Bioengineering start-up Twig – which uses AI to develop sustainable alternatives to ingredients found in everyday consumer items – has announced £3m in funding. The company aims to disrupt the bioengineering through its AI-first approach, in which it says, “tech drives the direction of the science”. For conventional bioengineering, it can take companies between 4-10 years to develop potential ingredient strains and can cost millions, with no guarantees of success, but Twig’s new approach is said to slash timings to “mere months, at a fraction of the usual cost”. The approach will create affordable, scalable and sustainable ingredients, created through bio-fermentation, that producers can use in the everyday items the world relies on. These ingredients will be able to replace environmentally harmful chemicals and ingredients such as acetone, palm oil or isoprene, which are typically produced from fossil fuels, or hyper-intensive farming. Twig utilises AI to radically improve the speed and efficacy of lab-based bioengineering and can be broken down into three distinct tech pillars. Bio:Builder is a biological tool that allows Twig to create the building blocks to develop its new sustainable ingredients. Grow:Bot’s dependable, programmable and scalable robotics, which enables Twig to manipulate and analyse tens of thousands of bacteria variations each month. ML:Bridge is Twig’s AI that connects the dots across the standardised and formatted data library generated by Bio:Builder and Grow:Bot. ML:Bridge reviews production yields against target thresholds and recommends pathway improvements. The round included high profile investors such as Project A, Seedcamp, Zero Carbon Capital, UK Innovation and Science Seed Fund and several expert angels. George Freeman MP, Minister of State at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, said: “The work being done here in the UK by companies like Twig – combining bioscience with AI and agritech – is further proof of engineering biology’s potential to solve some of the biggest sustainability challenges we face, and unlock economic growth and job creation nationwide in a UK technology. That is why the Government is supporting the £3 million backing for Twig as part of our long-term engineering biology industrial strategy.” He continued: “The scope for innovations in engineering biology to boost our quality of life, our environment and our prosperity is precisely why we have earmarked it as one of the 5 technologies that are critical to the UK’s future”. The company was founded by Russ Tucker, who previously founded UK cell-based meat pioneer Ivy Farm, James Allen and Satnam Surae. Together the three founders bring commercial, scientific and tech expertise to provide a fully rounded solution to the market.

Israel-based Meatafora is breaking ground with its newest tech that could bring the company closer to entering the marketplace with a premium cell-based meat product. The company achieved two key milestones with its latest innovation from research university Technion Israel Institute of Technology. First, Meatafora successfully developed an oleogel fat substitute that mimics animal-derived fat but with improved nutritional value. Oleogelation is a method for reducing or replacing the unhealthy and controversial fats in food products. Secondly, the food-tech company has produced edible and high-quality microcarriers for upscaling cell-based meat production. Science journal and media outlet Nature Communications published an article detailing Meatafora’s technology. Marcelle Machluf, founder of Meatafora, said: “We are thrilled that a prominent publication like Nature Communications understands the significance of our recent milestones. We believe the future is cultivated meats. This is a moment of growth for Meatafora and we will continue to make strides towards bringing a delicious meat alternative to the marketplace that is affordable, scalable and more ethical than the current industrial agricultural system.” Now Meatafora will focus on scaling up and offering the most cost-efficient option to the market. It says that due to its technology, it can reduce costs by up to 50%, creating a premium product that is affordable for the consumer. #Meatafora #Israel

CellRev, the bioprocessing company transforming adherent cell cultivation, has today launched a white paper, The Future of Commercial-Scale Cell Manufacturing. The white paper discusses the current cell-ag landscape, highlighting challenges around investment and opportunities for innovation that could help meet the forecast demand for cell culture. The paper sources opinions from a group of experts from the worlds of bioprocessing, cell-ag and biopharma, and finds that innovation is required in all areas. It says that increasing scale is necessary to introduce cell-based products to the mainstream and to make them commercially viable. This requires large facilities, which the report says would only be viable with “considerable investment,” pointing out that livestock farmers receive far more public funding than cell-based meat companies. Elliot Swartz, principal scientist in cultivated meat at The Good Food Institute, said: “The meta long-term challenge to the cultivated meat industry is cost and of course that’s linked to scale as well. There are two buckets for cost, one is the cell culture media and the other is infrastructure. Not just buildings, but the equipment in those buildings as well, such as bioreactors.” He continued: “We need investors or strategic partners, like large multinational corporations, to take on the funding of these initial scale-up facilities and governments to incentivise the infrastructure as they’ve done in other industries like renewable energy. Building a pilot factory is one thing, but building a full-scale commercial facility that can output thousands of tonnes of product per year is another story.” As well as discussing the challenges, the paper also highlights key opportunities for innovation that the cell-based meat industry is exploring, such as other bioprocess designs or bioreactor types for manufacturing. Most current equipment and processes are des not specifically designed for use in food manufacturing and not ideal for growing whole animal tissues. New, more suitable methods could help scale-up the industry. “There’s an opportunity to create bioprocesses as well as equipment that is more fit for purpose for manufacturing food rather than just manufacturing other biologic products,” Swartz added. “With meat obviously, the cells are the end product, and, in some cases, we want to actually create whole tissues and be able to harvest them. A lot of these technologies that companies use in the sector today are borrowed.” Timo Keijzer, bioprocessing specialist and director of product marketing at medical tech company Getinge commented: “In the cultivated meat industry, the cost of the bioreactor systems or overall manufacturing processes definitely needs to be addressed, just to be competitive with the current supply of meat in the field. Without these kinds of technological developments, I don’t think it’s possible to maintain the way of living that we currently have.” Earlier this month, CellRev announced it had signed a joint development agreement (JDA) with Saint-Gobain Life Sciences (SGLS) to reduce the price of cell-based meat. Under the JDA, the companies will initiate the development of a solution that can remove toxins and replenish spent media, allowing it to be circulated back into the cell cultivation process. #CellRev #UK

Global meat giant JBS has begun construction on “Brazil’s first” cultivated protein R&D innovation centre. Scheduled to open in Q4 2024, the JBS Biotech Innovation Centre – located at Sapiens Parque innovation hub in Florianópolis, Santa Catarina – will be the largest research facility focused on food biotechnology in Brazil. JBS is investing $22 million in phase one and phase two which focus on the construction of lab facilities and a pilot plant. The site will initially employ a team of 25 specialist post-doctoral researchers, as well as staff and clerical support. JBS’s global supply and innovation director, Jerson Nascimento, said: “As a global leader in protein production, it is our responsibility to be at the forefront of food-tech. The JBS Biotech Innovation Centre reinforces our commitment to the cultivated protein sector, consolidates our position as one of the main players in this very promising market and reinforces our commitment to offering innovative, high-quality products to our consumers.” With the new centre, JBS aims to make the production process for cultivated protein more efficient, scalable and economically competitive. The project is being led by president of the company’s cultivated meat division and the JBS Biotech Innovation Centre, Luismar Marques Porto, and Fernanda Vieira Berti, VP of the research centre. According to JBS, Porto and Berti are two of Brazil’s leading bioengineering specialists and bring “extensive” international professional and academic experience. The governor of the Brazilian state of Santa Catarina, Jorginho Mello, commented: “For those of us who grew up watching cattle graze from our windows in Herval D’Oeste, it’s almost out of this world to think of ‘cultivated protein’. But as a public representative it’s impossible not to see the future challenges, especially for countries that do not have as much land as Brazil to raise cattle. And it’s good to see Santa Catarina once again championing breakthrough innovation.” The team of scientists at the new centre have already begun working in temporary facilities within Sapiens Parque. While the current focus is to explore research to optimise beef cell cultivation, JBS says the main aim is to establish cell-based beef production in the future. In total, the JBS Biotech Innovation Centre will require an investment of around $62 million over three phases. In the third stage, an industrial-scale model will be built to demonstrate the technical and economic viability of cultivated protein. The company says this project will serve as a model for future plants that JBS may build to produce beef and other cultivated protein types. In addition to this project, JBS is the controlling shareholder (with a 51% stake) of Biotech Foods, a Spanish company that currently operates a pilot plant in San Sebastián, Basque, Spain. In Q4 2022, Biotech Foods began building the “world’s largest” cell-based beef plant in San Sebastián. With an investment of $41 million, BioTech Foods’ first commercial-scale industrial plant is scheduled for completion in mid-2024. Once complete, the plant will be able to produce more than 1000 tonnes of cultivated protein annually, with the possibility of increasing its capacity to up to 4,000 tonnes per year. JBS says that when it reaches the commercial stage, its cultivated protein will initially reach consumers in the form of prepared foods, such as hamburgers, sausages and meatballs, with the same quality, safety, flavour and texture as traditional protein. The technology has the potential to produce beef, chicken, pork and fish.

Extracellular, a UK-based contract development and manufacturing organisation dedicated to cell-based meat and seafood, has announced the opening of a new pilot facility for cell-based meat and seafood. The facility – which the company says is “Europe’s largest” contact pilot facility dedicated to cell-based meat and seafood production – is located in Bristol, UK, with the ambition of driving the industry closer to commercial scale. Extracellular says its new facility will provide the industry with the pivotal scale-up and manufacturing services required to propel the industry to commercial scale. The facility aims to have a total capacity of 10,000 litres, with a production capacity of up to 50 tons of cell-based meat annually with its existing capabilities, and up to 100 tons per year with its predicted future capabilities. The new site operates as a food-grade production facility and is operational now at a 200-litre scale. The company says that 2,000-litre capacity will be operational by the end of the year. The facility – which will hold multiple bioreactors from 50 litres to 5,000 litres – will be available to cell-based meat and seafood companies through Extracellular’s development, scale-up and contract manufacturing services. Founder and CEO of Extracellular, Will Milligan, said: “The vision for the facility is to eliminate the need for cultivated meat companies to develop pilot-scale facilities altogether, saving each company millions of pounds in CAPEX, cutting years out of their commercialisation timelines and de-risking the scale-up process by providing the much-needed manufacturing expertise. This will allow cultivated meat companies to focus on their goals of developing great consumer products at achievable prices”. Extracellular says it will be able to support companies from around the world from its site in the UK and is already supporting more than 12 customers across eight countries and four continents. The company’s plans to expand the facility in the future to support the development and commercialisation of cell-based meat includes dedicated scale-up sites in strategic geographies, including in Asia and the US. #Extracellular #UK

Israel-based company Profuse Technology has announced a “breakthrough” in its technology that is poised to advanced the cell-based meat industry. Profuse Technology's media supplements and growth protocols can achieve an 80% reduction in the duration of the muscle growth phase on 3D scaffolds, to only 48 hours. Beyond the acceleration of growth, the technology also elevates muscle tissue protein content by five times. In other words, the company’s technology speeds up muscle growth time by five times, while also increasing muscle tissue protein content by five times. Profuse, which focuses on the field of muscle tissue growth for the cell-based meat and life-science industries, says its capability to facilitate the production of fully mature muscle tissue in a 3D environment closely mirrors conventionally farmed meat. This approach is set to forge a “new era” in cell-based meat production, ensuring that the end product is closer to being indistinguishable from traditionally sourced meat, both in taste and texture. Profuse’s CEO Guy Nevo Michrowski said: "It is essential to recognise that the heart of meat production lies in muscle growth, as meat equals muscle. The ability to cultivate meat cost-effectively and at scale hinges on adopting 3D growth methodologies involving scaffolds and microcarriers." The start-up's CTO Tamar Eigler Hirsh added: "Profuse Technology's proprietary media supplements and protocols achieve effective muscle production in a 3D environment without resorting to genetic modification. Our commitment lies in supporting production of sustainable, ethical, and delectable alternatives to conventionally farmed meat.” #ProfuseTechnology #Israel

The Telegraph has reported that the UK government is working to fast-track regulatory approval for cell-based meat to boost food security and sustainability. Ministers and regulators are working to accelerate approval of the novel food to ease the cost of living and provide more sustainable sources of meat as the global population grows. Currently, no cell-based meat is authorised for sale in the UK. However, The Telegraph has reported that the UK government is poised to sign a bilateral agreement to boost collaboration on cell-based meat with Israel, a country at the forefront of the movement. The Food Standards Agency is also said to be considering future changes to the approval process of cell-based meat to remove unnecessary burdens on businesses. UK science minister, George Freeman, said: “With nine billion hungry mouths to feed by 2050 – we’re going to have to generate novel sources. If we don’t quickly generate ways to develop very low-cost protein, we’re going to see huge geographical instability.” Last year, the UK Government Food Strategy supported alt-protein innovation and set out an ambition to "keep the UK at the front of this growing and innovative sector". In August, Israeli startup Aleph Farms submitted an application to sell its cell-based beef in the UK , under a process that is expected to take at least 18 months. Linus Pardoe, UK policy manager at GFI Europe, commented: "The science minister is right: alternative proteins like cultivated meat will be transformative for national and global food security. Collaborating with other nations to accelerate their development can help the UK's burgeoning cultivated meat sector grow, delivering more choice for consumers and creating new green jobs. Sharing information and best practices between regulators internationally will help smooth the path to market for cultivated meat companies and maintain the highest standards of food safety.” He continued: "It's great to see the government recognising that optimising regulations will build confidence in the UK as a priority market for alternative proteins. But the Chancellor must urgently provide the financial resources the FSA needs to deliver those reforms with a £30 million uplift in the FSA's budget in the upcoming Autumn Statement." Last month, the GFI called for the UK government to invest £390 million in alt-proteins by 2030 , including funding open-access research, business grants and a new sustainable protein catapult to support small businesses in the alternative protein sector. #UK

Cargill is opening its first European Protein Innovation Hub in Saint-Cyr-en-Val, France, to meet customer demands for inspiration, innovation and faster product development. The new facility, which will enable customers to co-create protein-rich menu strategies, features a customer experience area, a test kitchen and a pilot plant for testing new products and concepts. Karel Zimmermann, managing director of Cargill Protein Europe, said: “Cargill’s Protein Innovation Hub is the perfect home for unsurpassed protein experiences where inspiration, co-creation and innovation meet to transform ideas into an exciting reality. Our customers can explore the entire world of protein under one roof – from consumer and marketing insights to sensory profiling and product concepts. It is our first Protein Innovation Hub in Europe and part of our continued investment in Protein as an essential component of the food chain.” The idea-to-execution concept starts with customer involvement in product co-creation, allowing them to create or re-create samples of finalised products developed by Cargill chefs serving customers throughout Europe. Cargill then can rapidly prototype new products in small batches, “yielding greater efficiency and speed to market on a dedicated small-scale pilot line, while undertaking further analytical and sensory testing,” the company said. The final products are showcased at the customer experience centre, featuring a restaurant space and hosts chef demonstrations, workshops and training sessions to improve co-development and customer experience. The new facility forms part of Cargill’s €50 million investment in the Saint-Cyr en Val site. This investment aims to renovate nearly 70% of the production facilities by 2025. According to the company, Cargill has a significant stake in the French poultry value chain, and this expansion programme will boost the output capacity by 10%. Cargill said that this investment prioritises sustainability, with energy-saving programmes such as the installation of a modern refrigeration unit (resulting in an 11% reduction in electricity consumption) and the use of heat pumps for hot water for cleaning (leading to a 5% reduction in gas consumption and a 20% reduction in water consumption). In total, these improvements will significantly decrease the site’s environmental impact, reducing CO2 emissions by 220 metric tons annually. Jonathan Laroye, director of Cargill’s Saint-Cyr en Val plant, commented: “We are proud to have been an active part of the local community for 30 years, during which time our site has serviced over 2,000 restaurants across France and 10 countries across Europe. This major investment will see our facilities upgraded to new-generation technology and contribute to sustainable development in the food industry, all while injecting a much-needed investment into the local economy.”

Steakholder Foods has unveiled its SH Beef Steak Ink, an innovation designed to “revolutionise” the future of sustainable 3D printed meat production. The deep-tech food company says that the bio-ink – which is formulated for use with its fusion printer technology – could take cell-based meat to new levels of realism and culinary versatility. The ink has been crafted to mimic the fibrous texture, appearance and taste of a premium beef steak, to provide an authentic experience. It allows for customised cuts of meat tailored to individual preferences and accentuates the natural flavours of the cultivated meat. The launch is the latest in Steakholder Foods' broader business strategy, SH Beef Steak Ink is a “stepping stone” in the company's journey to diversify the world's food portfolio. Building on the success of SH Fish Ink, this addition further expands Steakholder Foods’ lines of specialised inks, with the company planning to launch pork and shrimp inks in the future. Itamar Atzmony, chief engineering officer at Steakholder Foods, said: "Our mastery in 3D printing technologies extends beyond our existing fish and new beef inks, to a rich tapestry of species, offering a sustainable and ethical answer to global food security challenges. With our plant-based SH Inks as the canvas and cultivated cells as the brush strokes, we're not just recreating meat and fish with our 3D printing technology; we're revolutionising the future of food, one print at a time." #SteakholderFoods #Israel

South African cell-based meat company Newform Foods – formerly Mzansi Meat – has partnered with French flavour and fragrances supplier Mane. Through the strategic partnership, the companies aim to focus on the taste and texture of cell-based meat as well as the development of cost-effective products, leveraging Mane’s experience in food and flavour to enhance the cultivated muscle and fat across species and products. In line with the companies’ focus on affordability, they plan to will start by introducing hybrid options that combine cultivated meat with plant-based protein. Mane’s VP of savoury category EMEA, Eric Davodeau, and Luis Fernandez, VP of strategy development, said: “The Newform Foods team will work alongside Mane's Cape Town and Mane Corporate teams to advance this project, with access to applicative, analytic, regulatory and sensory flavour sciences to new product development from Newform Foods. As leaders in flavour, functional blends and seasonings, we’re excited to expand our offering and give consumers a taste of what’s possible when innovation and food expertise come together.” Tasneem Karodia, Newform Foods co-founder and COO, added: “We aim to create hybrid cultivated meat products that will blend with plant-based protein to elevate the taste, texture, colour and flavour of what’s currently on the market. While Newform Foods is working to reach scale and price parity with conventional meat, hybrid products will be the first to hit the market.” #NewformFoods #Mane #SouthAfrica

Climate tech venture capital firm At One Ventures has announced the close of a $375 million second fund. The fund focuses on backing early-stage start-ups with disruptive technologies that can improve planetary health, such as food and agriculture, buildings and construction and energy and transportation. The fund was raised from a group of partners including GenZero, World Wildlife Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, CalSTRS and New Mexico State Investment Council. Helen Lin, partner, At One Ventures, said: "It's going to take a different kind of thinking than what got us into the climate crisis to get us out. That's why we've invested in founders coming from a variety of backgrounds and on a global scale, ranging from academics and scientists to investment bankers and scale-up veterans. We value diversity of thought so we can get a multi-faceted and in-depth understanding of problems in order to find tangible solutions." At One says that 40% of the founders it has backed are part of tradtionally under-represented groups such as “BIPOC and female”. It has a globally distributed portfolio with companies in North America, Europe, Africa, South America and Israel. According to the firm, its investment thesis is based on “the Triad, which consists of: a disruptive deep tech that ushers in radically better unit economics paired with radically better environmental economics”. The venture firm’s managing partner Tom Chi commented: "This combination eliminates most adoption friction as the industry gets to upgrade their production in a way that will be massively more profitable, all while their core production gets much more aligned with planetary health. Our team, who all have backgrounds in physical sciences, engineering, manufacturing, or finance, are well-positioned to deeply evaluate physical/hardware businesses that could make a huge difference.” He continued: “Specifically, we look for 'invention catalysts' which are technologies that not only improve upon the domain of the invention itself but also have the potential to ripple-change entire systems of production and use. It is technology that makes us reimagine what is possible for living on a healthy planet. We then get detailed and disciplined in understanding what it will take to commercialise that technology and successfully displace existing brownfield approaches." Examples of invention catalysts in At One's portfolio include: Finless Foods: First to achieve more than 50% cultivated cell composition of lab-grown bluefin tuna Dalan Animal Health: The world's first USDA-approved vaccine for honeybees Halo Car: First to offer remote-piloted electric vehicle transportation to paying customers This is the second fund for At One Ventures – in October 2021 the firm closed a $150 million round – bringing its total to more than half a billion. There are currently 35 companies in the firm's portfolio invested in the past three years, with eleven already booking product sales.

Iceland-based ORF Genetics has entered into a partnership with South Korean company SeaWith to boost the production of cell-based meat using ORF’s animal-free growth factors (GFs) made from barley. ORF Genetics specialises in producing animal-free GFs – which are crucial for cell-based meat production – derived from barley under the MESOkine brand. SeaWith uses brown algae as 3D cell culture scaffolds and micro-algae extract as a serum replacement in cell culture media. SeaWith anticipates that the collaboration, outlined in a MOU, will enable it to secure a stable supply of GFs from ORF Genetics, accelerating its product commercialisation of cell-based meat. SeaWith's goal is to introduce cell-based meat products to market, under its Welldone brand, by year 2025 – particularly cultivated beef using cells derived from the Korean native Han-Woo breed. The MOU also highlights plans for further joint R&D initiatives in the realm of GFs for cell-based meat production. Berglind Rán Ólafsdóttir, CEO of ORF Genetics, said: "This collaboration represents a significant milestone for ORF Genetics, as we are already at the forefront of GF production for cultivated meat. This partnership will reinforce our position in this rapidly expanding market. We are also very excited to partner up with SeaWith on further research and development in this field.” Lee Hee-jae, CEO of SeaWith, added: “Through this collaboration, we have laid the foundation for securing materials for stable mass production of cultured meat. We are working on securing research and development and production facilities with the goal of commercialising our own brand ‘Welldone’ products in 2025. Now we can accelerate even more in this rapidly growing and crucial market.” #SeaWith #ORFGenetics #Iceland #SouthKorea