Israel’s SuperMeat has announced a strategic collaboration with Japanese biotech company Ajinomoto to speed up the commercialisation of cultivated meat.
As part of the collaboration, SuperMeat’s expertise in cultivated meat will be combined with Ajinomoto’s proprietary R&D technologies in the fields of biotechnology and fermentation. This will allow the companies to develop supply chain solutions while simultaneously increasing acceptance of cultivated meat products. Additionally, Ajinomoto will invest in SuperMeat as one of its corporate venture capital projects.
A key area of focus for the partnership will be developing improved cell growth media, which will be necessary to make cultivated meat cost-competitive with conventional meat. Much of the cost of the media comes from the growth factors used, and improvements will need to be made by reducing inefficiencies and introducing food-grade alternatives.
World’s first cultivated chicken restaurant
Back in 2018, SuperMeat told vegconomist that it eventually intended to produce cultivated meat without using any animal ingredients or serum. The company added that it was targeting meat lovers as its key audience.
Two years later, SuperMeat opened a test kitchen and restaurant in Tel Aviv where consumers could sample its cultivated chicken. According to the company, the experience was the first of its kind worldwide.
“In the past year, we have made tremendous strides in product development and scale, setting us up for industrial commercialization,” said Ido Savir, CEO of SuperMeat. “We are thrilled to partner with Ajinomoto, a global leader in food and biotechnology, to bring to market scalable, affordable and delicious cultivated meat products in poultry and beyond.”
