UMAMI Bioworks and Shiok Meats, have merged to establish a combined entity that will bring cultivated seafood closer to commercial viability.

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Company News

UMAMI Bioworks & Shiok Meats Merge to Commercialize Cultivated Seafood

Two cultivated seafood pioneers from Singapore — UMAMI Bioworks and Shiok Meats — have merged to establish a combined entity that will bring cultivated seafood closer to commercial viability. The strategic merge, believed to be the first in the cultivated seafood space, will leverage UMAMI Bioworks’ advanced production technologies with Shiok Meats’ research in crustacean cell cultivation. By combining their expertise, the companies expect to enhance go-to-market efficiencies, expand commercial opportunities, and accelerate regulatory approvals to introduce cultivated seafood products in the region while providing a production alternative to industrial fishing and aquaculture. Mihir Pershad, the CEO of UMAMI Bioworks, will lead the new company as CEO. He will be supported by global seafood investment leaders Hatch Blue and Aqua-Spark, who will join the company’s …

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alternative protein market company Upside Foods serves a cultivated chicken burger

© UPSIDE Foods

Business Wire

Global Cultured Meat Markets Report – By 2040, a Projected 60% of Meat will be Created from Cells Grown Within Bioreactors and Sold Across Grocery Stores and Restaurants Worldwide

DUBLIN–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The “The Global Market for Cultured Meat – Market Size, Trends, Competitors, and Forecasts (2022)” report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com’s offering. By 2040, a projected 60% of the meat will be created from cells grown within bioreactors and sold across grocery stores and restaurants worldwide. The rise of the cultured meat market will be supported by the sustainability of the process, as well as the industry’s ability to provide “tailor-made nutrition” through its meat and seafood products. Recent surveys indicate that nearly 50% of the consumers do not have any reservations about cultured meat. Over the next 10 to 20 years, the cultured meat market is projected to act as a major disruptor to the conventional meat market. The number of startups focused …

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Collaboration to develop cultivated beef in Singapore

Mirai Foods; Founder Christoph Mayr and Suman Das with cows

Cultivated Meat

MIRAI Foods and Shiok Meats Collaborate to Develop Cultivated Beef in Singapore

Switzerland’s MIRAI Foods has announced a partnership with Gaia Foods, a subsidiary of Shiok Meats. Together, the companies will work to launch cultivated beef in Singapore. MIRAI will supply Gaia with bovine muscle and fat stem cells from premium cattle breeds, which are hard to obtain in Singapore. In return, Shiok will provide MIRAI with regulatory information, which it has gained from being based in the first country worldwide to approve the sale of cultivated meat. This could pave the way for MIRAI to launch outside its home country. Gaia Foods Gaia is said to have been the first startup in Southeast Asia to develop cultivated red meat. The company unveiled its beef slices prototype in October 2020, and went on to raise funding from …

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Shiok Meats founders

©Shiok Meats

Cultivated Seafood

Shiok Meats Partners With Conventional Shrimp Company for Cultivated Seafood R&D

Shiok Meats has partnered with Vietnamese conventional shrimp producer Minh Phu Seafood to open a cultivated seafood R&D facility. The two companies have signed a MOU, committing to establishing a joint facility in Vietnam and carrying out research into sustainable seafood. Additionally, they will explore the opportunity to develop, produce, market, and distribute cultivated shrimp products. According to the companies, the collaboration could pave the way for conventional seafood companies to diversify, offering cultivated seafood alongside the traditional variety. Minh Phu says its long-term vision is to pioneer new technologies to make the seafood industry more sustainable. Preparing for commercial launch Shiok Meats has been steadily working towards a commercial launch for some time. The company already operates two R&D facilities in Thailand and Australia, …

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Shiok Meats founders

©Shiok Meats

Cultivated, Cell-Cultured & Biotechnology

Shiok Meats Unveils World’s First Cell-Based Crab Meat

Shiok Meats, the cell-cultured crustacean meat pioneer, showcased the world’s first cell-based crab meat at a private tasting event in Singapore on 26th August. In a collaboration with Chef José Luis Del Amo of TheTasteLab, Shiok Meats presented Crab Cake and Chilli Crab, complemented by Lobster-flavored Potato Chips and Tom Yum Shrimp Soup, all prepared with Shiok Meats’ cell-based meats. Shiok Meats states that the event was an important milestone for Shiok Meats, signifying a step closer to bringing cell-based crustacean meat to consumers by 2023. The company continues to work towards the building of the first-ever cell-based seafood manufacturing plant in Singapore. This development follows a string of previous milestones which the female-led company has achieved in the few years since launch. In May …

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Lucy the lamb Magic Valley

Lucy the lamb © Magic Valley

Cultivated, Cell-Cultured & Biotechnology

Australia’s Magic Valley On How to Turn Cells From “Cell Volunteer” Lucy the Lamb Into Lamb Steaks and Chops

Founded to meet the future protein demands of an expanding global population, Australia’s Magic Valley is developing cell-cultured lamb products including mince, strips, steaks and chops. With lambs currently slaughtered at an incredibly young age using traditional farming methods, its founder tells us this particular meat became the obvious choice for the company’s first product range. “There is absolutely no need for the mass slaughter of animals for food and hopefully intensive animal agriculture will soon be a thing of the past” Vegconomist spoke with Founder Paul Bevan, who says that he had become frustrated by the pace of change and effectiveness of his own activism so he turned his attention to technology, specifically the development of slaughter-free cultured meat, beginning with lamb. Utilising induced …

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Cultured GOOD Chicken ©Eat Just

Market & Trends

Has Singapore Firmly Established Itself as the World Epicentre of Alt Protein?

Last March we published an article discussing Singapore as an emerging food tech capital, with its government investing US$72 billion in climate crisis preparation and creating methods to be to be self-sufficient and battle food insecurity. In the year that has followed, not least this past week, there have been so many further developments that it cannot be ignored that the city-state has effectively established itself at the very forefront of global alt protein. Here is our roundup of recent and most impressive Singaporean news in the past 12 month. This week alone has seen the following three significant Singapore advancements in foodtech / alt protein as follows: Avant Chinese cell-cultured company Avant, the first cell-cultured meat company in China and the first cell-cultured fish …

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Carrie Chan Avant Meats

Carrie Chan, image courtesy of Avant Meats

Fairs & Events

ProVeg Future Food Series Shines a Spotlight on Seafood Alternatives on 9th Dec

ProVeg Incubator and NX-Food present the Future Food Series, and next Wednesday 9th December the focus will be on the the topic of seafood alternatives, with founders of plantbased and cultivated startups from around Europe and Asia discussing how to successfully launch such products and what the future has in store for this sector.

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Shiok Meats’ cell-grown “shrimp“ dumplings. CREDIT Shiok Meats.jpg

Shiok Meats’ cell-grown “shrimp“ dumplings. CREDIT Shiok Meats.jpg

Company News

BREAKING NEWS: IntegriCulture Inc Collaborates With Shiok Meats to Upscale Cell-Based Shrimp & Reduce Costs

It has been revealed to vegconomist that IntegriCulture Inc. and Shiok Meats Ltd have officially entered into a collaboration to upscale Shiok Meat’s cell-based shrimp utilising IntegriCulture’s inexpensive cell culture technology which will effectively make the shrimp more affordable and removes the necessity of the use of serum.

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Dr Sandhya Sriram – Founder of Shiok Meats

@ Shiok Meats

Interviews

Shiok Meats: “We Want to be the Leader for Cell-based Seafood”

The word “shiok” means fantastic and enjoyable in Singapore slang. Which is a very apt name for this company, and you’ll find out why. Shiok Meats is a cellular meat company, exclusively developing clean, meat-free seafood products. Shiok Meats is the first cell-based meat company in Southeast Asia and they utilise cellular agriculture to grow seafood meat in labs, using cells instead of animals.

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