Laboratory-grown meat is no longer just the dream of some animal lovers and vegans, but is now becoming a reality. Laboratory meat, also known as “clean meat”, is hoped to be a solution to many production problems in the meat industry. The production of synthetic meat is a response to people’s increasing awareness of sustainability.
San Diego based startup BlueNalu is dedicated to clean meat production. BlueNalu specialise in seafood and are rising to the challenge of producing it synthetically. Their aim is to use fish cells to produce a substitute for finfish, crustaceans and molluscs without any growth fluids derived from animal blood. The fact that these initiatives have been well received and promoted by consumers and companies is demonstrated by the ongoing investment in laboratory meat startups. BlueNalu also recently received support of this kind through a generous donation from the investment group New Crop Capital.
Besides startups such as JUST, who are working on the synthetic production of pork, beef and poultry, there are other start-ups in the seafood industry. Another example in the industry being Finless Foods, who are also pursuing the mission of making sustainable consumption of seafood possible without fishing. Together with Wild Type, also a clean meat start-up, the company is trying to reduce the selling price of synthetically produced meat. A realistic goal for 2019 is for conventional seafood to be at a similar price level to synthetically produced seafood.
This would make clean meat a serious alternative to conventional meat.