South Korea

Simple Planet's cultivated meat

© Simple Planet
Cultivated Meat

New Tri-Party Initiative Launches to Accelerate Cultivated Meat in South Korea Ahead of 2025 Market Launch

The Good Food Institute APAC (GFI APAC), the Korea Biotechnology Industry Organization (KoreaBIO), and the Bio-based Future Food Industry Committee (BFFIC) have joined forces to accelerate novel proteins in South Korea. The partnership was formalized in a memorandum of understanding (MOU) ceremony in Seoul, attended by GFI Founder and President Bruce Friedrich, KoreaBIO Vice President Seung-kyou Lee, and BFFIC President Dominic Jeong. As part of the MOU, the organizations will work to boost market research, technical knowledge exchange, and policy coordination for novel food regulatory frameworks. Additionally, they will collaborate on educational initiatives such as global webinars, workshops, and presentations on cultivated meat and other novel proteins. The MOU will also foster stronger connections between South Korean and overseas industry stakeholders and facilitate international expansion for …

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Company News

Pureture and Kangwon National University Launch Research Center to Innovate Non-GMO Yeast-Derived Proteins

New York startup Pureture, a developer of animal-free ingredients with a focus on alternative casein proteins and high-functionality yeast strains, has partnered with South Korea’s Kangwon National University to establish the “Alternative Protein Research Center.” The center aims to develop innovative solutions at scale for the global alternative protein market, explains the startup in an announcement this Wednesday. This new joint initiative will leverage the University’s expertise in fermentation science and Pureture’s R&D capabilities to produce highly functional proteins derived from non-GMO yeast. Pureture has already developed a plant-based casein that is said to offer a complete amino acid profile and melting and stretching functionalities of milk caseins. Rudy Yoo, CEO of Pureture, shared, “The development of high-functionality proteins derived from non-GMO yeast is at …

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Millennial Flavor Town debuts waygu beef steak in Europe at London Expo.

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Products & Launches

Wagyu Beef Steak ‘Masterpiece’ by Korea’s Millennial Flavor Town Premieres at PBWE Europe

Korea’s Millennial Flavor Town, a food startup aiming to redefine barbeque with fermentation and plants, is introducing its wagyu beef line — MM Beef — at the Plant Based World Expo Europe in London. The range includes two products: marbled wagyu beef steak and shredded beef, in soy sauce and truffle flavors, which have been featured in media outlets, including The New York Times. Described as “a masterpiece boasting a rich heritage and a fusion of flavors that redefine the essence of beef,” the products have been crafted by co-founder, food technologist, and chef Bakrin Ahn and her team. Traditional Korean fermentation Millennial Flavor Town uses a patented method based on traditional Korean fermentation and a blend of ingredients: soybeans, hedgehog and button mushrooms, rice koji, …

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umami meats' fish ball dish

© UMAMI Bioworks

Company News

UMAMI Bioworks to Establish South Korea’s First Cultivated Seafood Facility Through Strategic Partnership

UMAMI Bioworks (previously Umami Meats) continues to expand its footprint across Asia to offer sustainable solutions to the growing demand for seafood products. Today, the Singaporean company announces a strategic partnership with South Korean biotechnology firm KCell Biosciences and bioprocess solutions provider WSG to establish a scalable production pipeline for cultivated seafood in South Korea. The parties also intend to co-invest in a GMP-compliant hub facility to produce cultivated eel and other seafood species. The collaboration will leverage UMAMI Bioworks’ seafood cultivation technology, KCell Biosciences’ competitively priced cell culture media, and WSG’s bioprocessing hardware and bioreactor systems to expedite the introduction of products. UMAMI Bioworks CEO Mihir Pershad comments, “With WSG and K-Cell’s history of delivering high-quality bioprocess equipment and culture media, we will work …

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South Korea's TissenBioFarm announces it has won the "Cultured Meat Product of the Year" in the 2024 AgTech Breakthrough Awards.

© TissenBioFarm
Company News

Marbled Cultivated Meat by TissenBioFarm Wins AgTech Breakthrough Award

South Korea’s TissenBioFarm announces it has won the “Cultured Meat Product of the Year” in the 2024 AgTech Breakthrough Awards. The cultivated meat startup says that the award recognizes the impact of its low-cost, scalable technologies for producing cultivated meat. AgTech Breakthrough is a market intelligence organization that acknowledges top companies, technologies, and products in the agricultural and food industry. Bryan Vaughn, Managing Director of AgTech Breakthrough, shared, “TissenBioFarm is creating a future where people, the environment, and animals are safe. This era of agriculture and food technology marks the next major period of sustainable future foods, but the low scalability and high costs of producing cultivated meat have caused a gap in the industry. The solution lies within sustainable and scalable technologies used for production.” …

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Armored Fresh Melty Vegan Cheeses

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Company News

Armored Fresh Files Patent for Plant-Based Grated Cheese, Vegan Parmesan Arriving This Fall

Zero-dairy food tech company Armored Fresh, known for its fermented almond and oat-based cheeses, continues to innovate in manufacturing to create products that rival the taste and texture of traditional dairy cheese. The South Korean company operating in the US announces that it has filed a new patent for a technology that mimics the process of grating traditional hard-aged cheese. Instead of using the standard spray-drying process for grated plant-based cheese, which involves a liquid mixture that is then atomized into particles, the food tech company creates cheese blocks and physically grates them. This method achieves a more authentic taste and texture, explains the company. Rudy Yoo, founder and CEO of Armored Fresh, shares, “With this patented process, Armored Fresh will continue to prove that …

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Sales of plant-based Melona ice cream bars in H1 2024 in Europe exceeded three times last year's sales.

© Melona
Sweets & Snacks

Binggrae’s Plant-Based Melona Ice Cream Bars Achieve Triple Sales Growth in Europe

South Korea’s Binggrae, a manufacturer of ice cream, milk products, and snacks since 1967, has developed a dairy-free version of its iconic honeydew Melona ice bars, aiming to expand to other dynamic markets besides the USA. Australia, Canada, and Europe maintain high non-tariff barriers for imported dairy products, posing significant challenges to foreign companies. To streamline its entry into these markets, Binggrae revamped Melona’s recipe by using oats to replace skimmed milk while maintaining the sweet’s unique flavor. Binggrae expanded overseas in 1995, first arriving in Hawaii and becoming a household brand. However, it was not until 2016 that the company opened a US branch in San Francisco, selling ice cream bars, pints, and mochi. According to the manufacturer, Melona is America’s favorite Korean ice …

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Dominic Jeong speaking

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Interviews

Simple Planet: “It is a Way to Maintain Biodiversity Through Cell Culture and Reduce the Burden on the Earth”

South Korea’s leading cultivated meat company, Simple Planet, says it thrives on “leading the cell-based foods industry by reshaping food production platforms for the next generations”. Founded in 2022, the company has developed specialized cell lines from beef, pork, seafood, and chicken, and focuses on induced pluripotent stem cells “as an unlimited cell source for cell-based foods”. Simple Planet’s products include a high protein cultivated meat powder, animal fat paste, and customizable raw materials. After raising $6 million in an oversubscribed pre-series A round this February, Simple Planet was selected to participate in an ₩11 billion national project launched by South Korea’s government to expand the food tech industry, with plans to produce a cultivated fish cake.  We caught up with co-founder & CEO Dominic …

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SUJIS LINK

© SUJIS LINK
Company News

South Korea’s SUJIS LINK Secures Investment from Samyang Foods to Scale Meat Analog Technology 

Food technology company SUJIS LINK has secured a strategic investment of ₩3 billion (around $2.5M) from Samyang Foods, following a business agreement between the two companies last November to foster active collaboration in the South Korean alternative protein sector. Founded in 2016, SUJIS LINK initially focused on conventional processed meat products and became the first company in Korea to implement High Moisture Meat Analog (HMMA) mass production technology from Swiss plant equipment manufacturer Bühler Group. The company’s focus has since shifted towards the development and production of plant-based meats. Jinwon Lim, Deputy CEO of SUJIS LINK, outlined the company’s plans: “With this investment from Samyang Foods, we plan to introduce various new products using plant-based proteins to both domestic and international markets in the second …

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Unlimeat Korean BBQ_Bulgogi pack shot

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Retail & E-Commerce

UNLIMEAT Rolls Out 5 “K-Vegan” Products into GIANT and MARTIN’S Stores as Korean Food Surge Continues

Plant-based food brand UNLIMEAT, producer of popular “K-Vegan” products from upcycled, discarded vegetables, has launched five of its products into 149 GIANT and MARTIN’S stores in the USA, as the surge of interest in Korean food continues worldwide. Following the brand’s retail partnership with Sprouts Farmers Market earlier this month whereby its BBQ products launched into around 400 Sprouts stores, this latest expansion brings further Korean-style plant-based cuisine to the US market. The company has a US office base as well as its Korean HQ and launched an online store last November. In interview with vegconomist last year, founder and then-CEO Keum Chae Min explained the brand’s strategy and MO: “We believe that the alternative meat market will continue to stagnate unless it also focuses …

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Simple Planet's cultivated meat

© Simple Planet
Cultivated Meat

Bio Future Food Industry Association Launches in South Korea to Boost the Cultivated Meat Sector

The Bio Future Food Industry Association has launched in South Korea to support and develop the country’s cultivated meat sector. Established under the Korean biotechnology Industry, the new association boasts participation from 32 members, including the cell ag companies Simple Planet, SeaWith, CellQua, and TissenBioFarm and established food giants like Daesang and CJ CheilJedang. The Association plans to serve as a communication channel with relevant government agencies, hold regular seminars, build a global network, and promote cooperation programs among member companies. The aim is to enhance the country’s competitiveness in the global cultivated meat market. Uniting efforts The inaugural meeting was held at the COEX convention center in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, where Simple Planet’s CEO, Dominic Jeong, was elected as the inaugural chairman. Jeong holds a Ph.D. …

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South Korea’s plant-based foods producer Pulmuone has signed a business agreement with with ABB Korea Robotics, a leading company in automation and robotics to develop cultivated fish technologies.

© Pulmuone

Cultivated Seafood

Pulmuone Announces New Collab to Streamline Cultivated Seafood Using AI Robotics

South Korean plant-based foods producer Pulmuone has signed a business agreement with ABB Korea Robotics, the local corporation of Switzerland’s ABB, to develop cultivated seafood. The collaboration aims to automate the cultivation process for seafood using ABB’s robotics technology, with a target of mass-producing cultivated seafood products by 2026. According to the announcement, the companies hope to spearhead research and development in AI robotics for cellular agriculture. At the same time, Pulmuone expects this partnership to be the world’s first to apply AI robotic automation to cultivated meat production. Both companies will focus on several areas, including the robotic automation of the seafood cell cultivation process, enhancing production efficiency, protecting intellectual property, sharing research facilities and equipment, and exchanging specialized personnel. Key representatives from both …

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Dominic Jeong, CEO of Simple Planet.

CEO Dominic Jeong © Image courtesy of Simple Planet

Company News

Simple Planet to Develop Cell Ag Technologies Under South Korea’s National Project for Food Tech

Cultivated meat ingredients developer Simple Planet announces that it has been selected to participate in an ₩11 billion national project launched by South Korea’s government to expand the food tech industry. The national project involves various individual projects led by different governmental institutions, including the Korea Institute of Planning and Evaluation for Technology in Food, Agriculture and Forestry (IPET), the Korea Agriculture Technology Promotion Agency (KOAT), and the Korea Institute of Marine Science and Technology Promotion (KIMST).   As Simple Planet explained to Cultivated X, the company will be developing cell ag technologies for different purposes: The first project under the umbrella of KOAT’s agri-food venture nurturing program will focus on cultivated foods to replace animal-derived ingredients. A second activity involves establishing pluripotent stem cell lines and differentiation and …

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A pizza with animal-free mozzarella

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Cheese Alternatives

New Culture Partners with CJ CheilJedang to Streamline Costs of Animal-Free Mozzarella

Californian animal-free cheese producer New Culture announces a partnership with its previous investor, South Korean biotech giant CJ CheilJedang. New Culture develops casein from precision fermentation to make cow-free cheeses that melt, stretch, bubble, brown, and taste like conventional cheese without the lactose, cholesterol, hormones, and antibiotics found in milk.  The partnership will focus on reducing the production cost of New Culture’s casein to obtain a competitive price for its first product, animal-free mozzarella for pizzerias. Seung June Choi, Senior Vice President of Strategic Planning at CJ CheilJedang, comments, “Since our initial investment in New Culture in 2022, the CJ CheilJedang team has continued to be impressed by the company’s technical progress, robust bioprocess, and global ambition in the animal-free dairy industry.” Expertise to fuel …

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Cultivated Meat

South Korea Designates Regulation-Free Zone for Cultivated Meat to Boost Production & Safety

The South Korean government has announced the designation of a special regulatory-free zone in Gyeongsangbuk-do province to accelerate the production and commercialization of cultivated meat in the country. The zone, officially named the Gyeongbuk Cell-Cultivated Foods Regulatory-Free Special Zone (RFSZ), aims to address the legal obstacles facing the development of cell culture food products, establish global standards for these novel foods, and develop a skilled workforce for the cultivated meat industry. The cultivated meat RSFZ will be operational for the next five years (until December 2028) with a budget of ₩19.9 billion ($14.4 million) as reported by local media. Demonstrating safety Ten companies, including SeaWith, TissenBioFarm, and DaNAgreen, will demonstrate the commercialization of cultivated meat, backed by R&D funding and tax breaks. Their goal will be to use cells from livestock …

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Innohas plant-based food facility

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Manufacturing & Technology

Innohas Opens “World’s Largest” Plant-Based Food Facility in South Korea

South Korea’s Innohas has announced the opening of its second manufacturing site — claimed to be the world’s largest fully plant-based food facility — in the city of Jecheon. The factory will produce Korean-style plant-based foods to be sold under Innohas’ Sunlit Foods brand. This will cater to the growing demand for Korean cuisine worldwide, while also making it easier for Koreans to adopt a plant-based diet. The site’s facilities will include Korea’s largest frozen kimbap production line, dedicated plant-based BBQ and deep-frying lines, and an exclusive oven line for plant-based products. This will allow for the production of both finished products and ingredients. The Sunlit Foods brand currently offers 11 ready-to-eat meals, including Plant-based Bulgogi, Vegetable Kimbap, Plant-based Bulgogi Japchae, and Plant-based Bibimbap. The …

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Better Foods launches You Are What You Eat brand

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Company News

Better Foods Debuts New Plant-Forward Brand “You Are What you Eat” at Expo West

Better Foods, a plant-based subsidiary of South Korea’s Shinsegae Foods that was first introduced in 2022 for the US market, spearheaded its US expansion with the launch of new brand “You Are What You Eat” at this week’s Expo West event. At the event, Better Foods unveiled the new brand which debuted with ten new alternative meat and plant-based meal replacement products for home consumers, which it says were “produced using newly developed technology”. Says the landing page for the new brand: “‘YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT‘ is Better Foods’ take on plant-forward. It’s all about bringing delicious, healthy food to the table while caring for our planet. Think of plant-forward as encompassing everything from the base materials to the final meal, a concept that’s …

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Koralo launches a new mycelium and microalgae fish fillet in South Korea

Image courtesy of Koralo
Fermentation

Koralo to Launch New F!sh in More Restaurants in Seoul Following 5,000L Production Milestone

Koralo, a German B2B alternative seafood startup operating a subsidiary in South Korea, announces a milestone in the production of its flagship product called ‘New F!sh’, a mycelium-based fish fillet that debuted in Seoul last December.  According to Koralo, it has successfully scaled its patented co-fermentation biomass process to 5,000 L on existing equipment manufacturers (OEM) with local partners in South Korea. The company’s fermentation process harnesses the nutritional properties of microalgae to feed mycelium, replicating the natural diet of fish. This innovative process enables the creation of fish-like tasting and nutrient-rich alternatives in a sustainable process, emitting less CO2 and using less water than plant proteins. Clean-label and nutritious fish  New F!sh is said to be rich in nutrients, including omega-3, complete protein, probiotics, and …

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Infinite Roots team

Cathy Hutz (co-founder), Philipp Tigges (CFO), Dr. Mazen Rizk (founder and CEO) and Dr. Thibault Godard (co-founder) © Infinite Roots
Company News

Mycelium Tech Infinite Roots Announces Strategic Partnership with Pulmuone

Mycelium tech company Infinite Roots, formerly Mushlabs, announces a strategic partnership with Pulmuone, a leading food manufacturer from South Korea. Together, the companies intend to develop innovative protein products specifically tailored to the needs and taste preferences of the South Korean market. Infinite Roots has developed a patented method to use mycelium in innovative ways for food production. Just last month, the German startup secured $58 million in an oversubscribed Series B round, said to be Europe’s largest-ever investment in mycelium. On the other hand, Pulmuone, known for its tofu products, owns the Nasoya brand, famous for its plant-based steak line Plantspired which is hugely popular domestically as well as in the US, and is catering to the increasing interest in plant-based products in the …

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a 2kg prototype of cultivated meat by TissenBioFarm .

© TissenBioFarm

Cultivated, Cell-Cultured & Biotechnology

South Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety Accepting Submissions for Cultivated Meat Approval

South Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (KFDA) has announced that it has opened an application process for the approval of cultivated meat after implementing cultivated food regulations and a framework to provide companies with guidelines. The news came after the KFDA revised and published the “Temporary Standards and Standards for Food Products,” stipulating the procedure for approving raw materials “made using technology,” such as cell and microbial cultures.  Cultivated food ingredients became eligible for certification as food ingredients through the revision of the Enforcement Rules of the Food Hygiene Act in May last year. Previously, they were only allowed for R&D purposes. However, under these temporary standards, cultivated food ingredients could be approved for sale for the first time. Sam Lawrence, GFI Vice President of Policy …

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