Eel

Forsea's cultivated eel

© Liran Maimon
Cultivated Seafood

Forsea Achieves “Record-Breaking” Cell Density in Cultivated Eel Prodution

Cultivated seafood startup Forsea Foods announces a significant tech breakthrough for producing cultivated eel at scale. The Israeli startup claims it has reached a “record-breaking” cell density of over 300 million cells/ml using minimal growth media, setting a new industry standard. “This is the highest cell density recorded in the field, moving Forsea to the forefront of cultured seafood production efficiency,” the startup said. Forsea’s cultivated seafood platform implements organoid technology to create a natural growth environment for animal cells, forming three-dimensional tissue structures (whole cuts) without scaffolding. The technology also simplifies production, enhances scalability, and reduces the need for expensive growth factors. Moria Shimoni, CTO of Forsea, comments, “The breakthrough to this level of cell density highlights the strength of our organoid technology. It’s …

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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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Cultivated seafood startup Umami Bioworks and India’s IKP Knowledge Park, a premium Science Park and Incubator India, have announced a partnership to accelerate the production of cultivated seafood.

© IKP Knowledge Park
Cultivated Seafood

Cultivated Seafood Pioneer UMAMI Bioworks Sets Foot in India with IKP Partnership

Cultivated seafood startup UMAMI Bioworks, (previously Umami Meats) has announced a partnership with India’s premium Science Park and Incubator, IKP Knowledge Park, to accelerate the production of cultivated seafood. IKP has recently established the Centre for Smart Protein and Sustainable Material Innovation in Bangalore, which facilitates core R&D, innovation, collaboration, and knowledge exchange for the smart protein sector. At the centre, UMAMI Bioworks’ team in India will lead the engineering and validation of the company’s plug-and-play manufacturing hardware, supporting tech transfer from their demonstration line to customer sites. Deepanwita Chattopadhyay, Chairman and CEO of IKP Knowledge Park, welcomed UMAMI Bioworks and expressed excitement about the novel technology platform it brings to the smart protein ecosystem. She shared, “This collaboration will not only accelerate Umami’s growth …

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Following the successful creation of a cultivated eel prototype claimed as the world’s first, Israel's Forsea Foods debuted the product at its first official tasting at Restaurant "a" in Tel Aviv.

© Liran Maimon
Company News

40 Guests Taste Forsea’s Cultivated Eel at Official Tasting: “Feedback was Uplifting”

Following the successful creation of a cultivated eel prototype claimed as a world first, Israel’s Forsea Foods announces it has recently debuted the product at its first official tasting at restaurant “a” in Tel Aviv. According to the announcement, more than 40 guests had the opportunity to taste Forsea’s cultivated eel fillets in various dishes. The menu’s centerpiece was Unagi kabayaki, a Japanese specialty of grilled fresh eel on a bed of aromatic rice (featured image). Roee Nir, CEO and co-founder of Forsea, shares, “Since the start of the year, we have made significant advancements in improving our cell lines. We also have been working diligently to enhance our recipes. This event was a great opportunity for us to present our unprecedented achievements to partners and …

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Steakholder Foods announces plant-based shrimps

Steakholder Foods’ plant-based, 3D-printed shrimps.
Printed Technology

Steakholder Foods Unveils the World’s First 3D Printed Plant-Based Shrimp

Israeli biotech Steakholder Foods (Nasdaq: STKH), a cultivated meat and 3D bioprinting technology leader, unveils what it claims to be the world’s first plant-based 3D-printed shrimp. Steakholder Foods’ food team utilized its DropJet printer and shrimp-flavored inks developed in-house to “precision-print” the analogs, layer-by-layer. Combining these technologies allows the company to recreate the texture and flavor of shrimp, offering a realistic alternative. The ingredients for the inks have not been disclosed. Initially, the Israeli company intends to offer 3D-printed plant-based shrimps to potential clients, and eventually, it will launch hybrid shrimps, combining cultivated cells and plant proteins, after its cultivated platform achieves economies of scale to provide a price-competitive product.  The news follows the company’s first incursion into the 3D-printed plant-based category with a realistic eel …

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Cultivated eel dishes created by the vegan restaurant Saido.

© Anatoly Michaello
Cultivated Seafood

Forsea Develops World’s First Cultivated Eel Fillet, Plans Commercial Launch in 2025

Forsea Foods, a cultivated seafood startup from Israel, has unveiled what it claims is the world’s first cultivated eel prototype. According to the startup, the cultivated eel delivers the delicate texture and flavorful taste of the Japanese unagi eel (Anguilla japonica), renowned for its tenderness and rich flavor. To demonstrate the potential of its new development, Forsea worked with chef Katsumi Kusumoto of Saido, a popular vegan restaurant in Tokyo, to craft two traditional Japanese dishes — unagi kabayaki (marinated grilled eel over rice) and unagi nigiri. Since tastings of cultivated meat are not yet legally allowed in Japan, the prototype has not been served or tasted at Saido restaurant as yet, verifies the company. The Forsea and Saido teams met a few times in Japan and …

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Plant-Based Grilled Eel for Day of Ox in Japan

©Nissan Food Holdings
Meat- and Fish Alternatives

Japan: Nissin Launching Plant-Based Grilled Eel to Celebrate Day of Ox

Nissin Food Holdings Co. announces it will launch a plant-based version of “kabayaki” grilled eel for this year’s Day of Ox commemoration. Nissan plans to debut the new eel before the country’s Day of Ox celebrations on July 30, when most people enjoy the delicacy.  Realistic taste  According to Nissin, its new plant-based eel recreates the taste, texture and appearance of real kabayaki grilled eel. Made from soy protein and other plant-derived ingredients, the product contains three layers to reproduce the fluffy texture of eel’s white meat and the fat between its meat and skin.  To create the product, the company says it developed a unique three-step process where ingredients are steamed inside a special mold, coated with sauce and roasted, then grilled until the …

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umami meats' seafood

© Umami Meats

Cultivated Seafood

Umami Meats and Triplebar Join Forces to Improve Cell Lines for Cultivated Japanese Eel

Singaporean cultivated seafood company Umami Meats and California-based biotech firm Triplebar have signed a letter of intent (LOI) to collaborate on improving cell lines to produce cultivated seafood more efficiently and at a lower cost, starting with the Japanese eel. Due to overfishing, ocean temperature surges, and ocean acidification, eels have become critically endangered in the wild. Furthermore, growing them using aquaculture is resource-intensive and environmentally hazardous.  “I’m certain that this collaboration between Umami Meats and Triplebar will accelerate the commercialization of cultivated seafood and the transition to a more robust and sustainable food system for everyone,” said Mihir Pershad, CEO of Umami Meats. Leveraging knowledge Through this agreement, Umami Meats will leverage Triplebar’s screening system for solution discovery to test which cell lines have the correct properties to grow in a …

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cultivated fish range

© Umami Meats
Cultivated, Cell-Cultured & Biotechnology

Steakholder Foods Receives First Grant to Develop Cultivated Eel and Grouper with Umami Meats

Israel-based Steakholder Foods (Nasdaq: STKH) announces it has received its first grant of up to $1M to develop 3D-printed structured eel and grouper products with cultivated seafood startup Umami Meats.  The initiative is being funded by a grant from the Singapore Israel Industrial R&D Foundation (SIIRD), a cooperation between – Enterprise Singapore (ESG) and the Israel Innovation Authority (IIA). According to Steakholder, the partnership with Umami Meats offers a unique opportunity for market entry in Singapore, the only country where cultivated meat has regulatory approval. The collaboration seeks to develop a scalable process for producing structured cultivated fish products. To create the fish, Steakholder will use newly developed technology for mimicking the flaky texture of cooked fish, which the startup recently submitted for a provisional …

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© Mimic Seafood
Meat- and Fish Alternatives

Mimic Seafood to Rapidly Expand Tomato-Based Tuna Alternative Across Europe

Spanish alt-seafood brand Mimic Seafood achieved several milestones last year, including raising an undisclosed sum in its pre-seed funding round. Following the round, the Madrid-based company began to receive orders from B2B customers across Europe, before announcing a collaboration with agricultural co-op La Palma. The partnership will allow Mimic to use locally-produced crops in its plant-based seafood alternatives. In the wake of this success, Mimic announced its intention to expand considerably across Europe in 2022. Tunato Mimic’s first product, launched in 2019, is a tomato-based raw tuna alternative called Tunato. Ideal for use in sushi, the vegan tuna is made with just five ingredients — tomatoes, olive oil, algae, soy sauce, and a spice blend. To achieve a tuna-like texture, some of the water is …

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OceanHugger eel

©Ocean Hugger Foods
Products & Launches

Demand Already Surpassing Supply for Ocean Hugger’s Plant-based Eel

Ocean Hugger Foods, creators of plantbased seafood, last month unveiled its new innovation, a freshwater eel product made from aubergine (eggplant), at the Dot Foods Innovations conference, in St. Louis, Missouri. The new launch follows the success of Ocean Hugger’s flagship product, Ahimi – a tomato based sushi of which the company reportedly sold 200,000 lbs of in 2018.

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