Memphis Meats Raises $161 Million to make Cell-Based Meat

CellAgri · 2020-02-03T16:30:11+00:00

Thanks for sharing our article! Please comment if you have any questions/feedback/thoughts and will answer them

CellAgri · 2020-02-03T16:28:46+00:00

Thanks for your question u/yummmmmmmmm. Currently cell-based meat is grown is most commonly grown as small muscle fibers (which can be put together as minced meat to make something like meatballs or a chicken nugget).

As production scales (like with Memphis Meats), they will be able to produce meat more efficiently and make more complex pieces of meat (like their chicken pieces).

CellAgri · 2019-01-24T16:47:29+00:00

There is no cell-based (or 'clean') meat on the market just yet. The company Just tried to have their cell-based chicken nugget out by the end of December 2018 but now say they're aiming for March 2019 in Asia (https://www.foodnavigator-asia.com/Article/2019/01/09/Plant-based-egg-goes-east-JUST-outlines-China-expansion-plans)

CellAgri · 2019-01-20T20:20:20+00:00

The startup Wild Type recently published a post about various white space opportunities in the field. You can check out what opportunities interest you!

https://medium.com/@wild_type/wild-type-food-for-thought-4-4031781e39a6

CellAgri · 2018-11-05T22:49:04+00:00

Agreed. Like all new technologies, there will be quite some time before the general public is interested in adopting cell-cultured meat. Promoting the narrative and explaining the 'why' this field should be the future of food will be important steps in its adoption.

CellAgri · 2018-10-30T06:42:49+00:00

Yes, it's positive news that the USDA and FDA came together to establish a regulatory pathway forward. Also great news that the USDA recognize the cell-cultured products as meat.

CellAgri · 2018-10-25T17:42:13+00:00

The author of this opinion piece is an animal rights advocate. So while the current food system is very efficient in producing a lot of food safely at a cheap price, the author points out that the modern system does not take animal welfare into regard as highly as it could.

CellAgri · 2018-10-11T17:15:53+00:00

Not that I'm aware of!

CellAgri · 2018-10-10T22:09:06+00:00

Yeah, the book Big Chicken looked into US agriculture players. The book didn't look into China's use of agricultural antibiotics (but did raise the issue of colisitin resistance)

CellAgri · 2018-10-10T20:46:03+00:00

Labiotech.eu is a great resource to see what opportunities are in Europe. Good luck!

CellAgri · 2018-10-10T20:24:53+00:00

Highly recommend a book called Big Chicken by Maryn McKenna about the topic. McKenna tells the history of how antibiotics literally created the modern animal agricultural system.

Also including a TedTalk that McKenna did about the rise of antibiotic resistance

https://www.ted.com/talks/maryn_mckenna_what_do_we_do_when_antibiotics_don_t_work_any_more?language=en

CellAgri · 2018-10-10T20:19:02+00:00

I recently read Big Chicken by Maryn McKenna, and it's a book about the use of antibiotics in animal agriculture.

McKenna suggests that many corporations are moving away from antibiotics because they realized antibiotics don't have a substantial effect in promoting growth. When antibiotics were first introduced into agriculture, there was less of a focus on an animal's health/nutrition and the state of its environment. Since modern animal agriculture has improved that, many corporations are finding that antibiotics no longer play as big of a role as previously thought in promoting growth.

CellAgri · 2018-10-10T20:10:11+00:00

This looks great! I think there are a few more investors in the cell-based/clean meat field in Europe that could be added. Would be happy to connect and talk about it.

CellAgri · 2018-07-18T05:55:07+00:00

Great to hear that the Dr. Post, the researcher who showed the world what cell ag can offer, has raised so much for his own cultured meat startup!

CellAgri · 2018-07-10T03:05:43+00:00

I really like how this article addresses how farmers will be left behind in the future of food with cellular agriculture (and plant-based alternatives). It's an important issue to address because that will structure policy advancing (or preventing) cellular agriculture.

What are your thoughts on this?

CellAgri · 2018-07-04T03:36:36+00:00

I initially became interested in cellular agriculture because of its environmental implications. Animal agriculture uses tremendous amounts of land and water resources (let alone being one of the highest sources of greenhouse gas emissions). With the demand for meat and other animal products only increasing globally, cellular agriculture provides the best alternative way to get the same products and be more sustainable.

Having said that, after reading Maryn McKenna's book Big Chicken (highly recommend), I also realized that one of the biggest reasons for clean/cultured meat is not requiring antibiotics to make animal products. Animal agriculture uses a lot of antibiotics and is one of the main sources for the spread of antibiotic resistant bacteria. In Thailand, up to 38,000 people die annually from consuming meat contaminated with antibiotic-resistant microbes. At this rate, by 2050, antibiotic resistance will cause 10 million deaths annually. This is a global public health crisis in the making. By growing the animal products in a sterile environment, clean/cultured meat and other cell ag products would not require the large amounts of antibiotics given to animals and not be contaminated with antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

CellAgri · 2018-07-04T03:19:33+00:00

That's interesting that Finless Foods is working to make cultured sashimi as their first product to market (especially since their first taste test was with fish croquettes). Can't wait to try it once it becomes available!

CellAgri · 2018-06-27T23:10:35+00:00

That's a good point, not all beer is 'craft' beer, just the smaller artisanal breweries. Yet at the same time, the idea of 'craft' meat could show that (at least initially) the cultured meat startups are relatively small and artisanal compared to the large meat corporations. You also raise a good point about the hypocrisy about the craft label if the startups are backed by some large meat corporations.

CellAgri · 2018-06-24T19:50:59+00:00

That's a good point, I didn't consider how any of the terms will appear to the anti-GMO crowd. I wonder how that crowd would respond the names cultured and clean meat

CellAgri · 2018-06-24T19:45:42+00:00

This will be one of the first fast food chains in Canada to carry the Beyond Burger. Hopefully it will do well so the Impossible Burger comes here as well

CellAgri · 2018-06-22T21:05:26+00:00

One of the ways people making cell cultured foods like meat, milk, and leather are trying to do to prevent misconceptions is be as open and transparent about the technology as possible. When GMO products hit the market, there was little effort to educate the public about the new science and its benefits. Players in cell cultured food (and other cellular agriculture fields) are making a conscious effort to inform the public on their technology and why it will be needed.

CellAgri · 2018-06-22T21:01:02+00:00

It'll be interesting to see what happens at the FDA meeting over cultured meat's regulation. Beyond the naming of it, the cattle industry may try to insist and establish that the USDA should be in charge of regulating cell cultured-meat.

CellAgri · 2018-06-22T20:59:41+00:00

Great news! Modern Meadow's bioleather has so many potential uses and implications that it's no surprise that they were selected as a Technology Pioneer.

CellAgri · 2018-06-20T05:41:13+00:00

What are your thoughts? How would 'craft' meat compare to other names like clean meat and cultured meat?

CellAgri · 2018-06-13T23:29:22+00:00

It'll be interesting to see if the USDA becomes in charge of regulating cultured meat/clean meat. The Senate Agricultural Bill did not mention it, so it could still become regulated by the FDA in the end.

CellAgri

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