Portrait, Passfoto, Iris Dahlem

Iris Dahlem Image courtesy Wacker

Ingredients

WACKER BIOSOLUTIONS: “We’re Making Cultivated Meat Cost-Effective and Scalable, Bringing It Closer to Supermarket Shelves”

WACKER BIOSOLUTIONS is playing a pivotal role in advancing cultivated meat and seafood production through innovative biotech solutions. Leading this effort is Iris Maria Dahlem, Innovation Manager and head of the Cultivated Meat project, which focuses on developing key components for the industry. With a background in nutritional science and extensive experience in the food sector, Dahlem has been working for the past two years on solutions to address challenges such as scalability, cost-efficiency, and quality. In this interview, she shares insights into WACKER’s contributions to the cultivated meat space, the industry’s push toward price parity, and the importance of successful partnerships. Wacker is renowned for its expertise in biotechnology and chemical innovations. How are Wacker’s solutions specifically supporting the development of cultivated meat production? …

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Headshot of Illtud Dunsford from Cellular Agriculture Ltd

Illtud Dunsford © Cellular Agriculture Ltd

Guest Posts

Guest Post: Making Cultivated Meat Scalable and Sustainable with New Bioprocess Technology

The global food system is at a pivotal juncture, with growing populations, environmental pressures, and rising demand for sustainable, ethical protein sources converging to create both challenges and opportunities. Cultivated meat, a promising innovation, allows the production of real animal protein without the environmental burden. However, scaling cultivated meat to commercial viability while ensuring food safety and reducing environmental impact remains a key industry challenge. In the following guest post, Illtud Dunsford, CEO and Co-Founder of Cellular Agriculture Ltd, delves deeper into these complexities, exploring the advancements, hurdles, and future prospects of cultivated meat as a transformative solution within the global food landscape. Cellular Agriculture Ltd, in partnership with Campden BRI, has launched a ground-breaking Innovate UK-funded project to address these issues. The aim is …

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Precision fermentation startup Melt&Marble has achieved a milestone in biomanufacturing with the demo-scale production of over ten thousand liters of fermented fats.

Image courtesy of Melt&Marble

Fermentation

Fermented Fats Designer Melt&Marble Achieves 10,000-Liter Production Milestone

Precision fermentation startup Melt&Marble has achieved a milestone in biomanufacturing with the demo-scale production of over ten thousand liters of fermentation for fats. According to the Swedish startup, the target bioprocess performance was maintained throughout the scale-up, achieving a 10-fold increase in bioreactor volume while sustaining comparable strain and performance metrics. This achievement builds on a previous bioreactor trial and demonstrates the platform’s scalability and robustness, explains Melt&Marble. CEO Anastasia Krivoruchko shares, “Scale-up of fermentation processes can be tricky, and we’re extremely proud of what our scientific team has managed to achieve in such a short amount of time.” Better alternatives for tasty food The large amount of fat produced from this demo will enable the company to conduct application pilots to fine-tune the fat’s use …

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Swedish foodtech startup Mycorena announces the discontinuation of its large-scale factory project in Sweden for scaling its mycoprotien Promyc

© Mycorena

Cultivated, Cell-Cultured & Biotechnology

Mycorena Pauses Large-Scale Mycoprotein Facility: “Investors are Hesitant to Back Projects with Heavy Capital Requirements”

Pioneering mycelium-based solutions company Mycorena announces it is discontinuing its large-scale factory project in Sweden for Promyc, its flagship mycoprotein ingredient. Planned in 2022 and designed with Tetra Pak, the large-scale production factory aimed to supply the then “booming” plant-based market with volumes of mycoprotein: 5,000 tons by the end of 2023, with a total production volume of up to 100,000 tons in multiple stages. Despite significant growth and raising over €35 million in funding, including a €24 million Series A round, Mycorena says it has faced changing market conditions such as reduced investor interest in capital-intensive projects within the food tech industry and a slowdown in the plant-based meat market. The company says it attempted to raise Series B funding with SEB and Pareto …

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The UK's Ivy Farm Technologies announces it has signed a manufacturing agreement with Synbio Powerlabs Oy, the Finnish leader in synthetic biology, to produce its cultivated meat products at a large scale.

Image courtesy of Ivy Farm

Cultivated Meat

Ivy Farm Partners with Synbio Powerlabs to Cultivate Meat At “Unprecedented” Scale

UK-based Ivy Farm Technologies announces it has signed a manufacturing agreement with Synbio Powerlabs, a Finnish leader in synthetic biology, to produce its cultivated meat products in large fermenters. According to Synbio Powerlabs, cultivated meat will be produced on an unprecedented scale in Finland. The Finnish firm is converting a sizeable food-grade facility into a fermentation hub supported by a €2.99 million grant from the Finnish government. Expected to be operational by early 2025, the facility will include production scales at 10,000 and 27,000 L and six 250,000 L manufacturing vessels. Once opened, it will be the largest facility of its kind in the world, according to the announcement. Gaining access to Synbio Powerlabs’ expertise and facilities, Ivy Farms will scale up its cultivated meat production to …

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SuperMeat's chicken cell line process meets Kosher meat Mehadrin standards

The Chicken @ SuperMeat

Cultivated, Cell-Cultured & Biotechnology

New GFI Report Reveals Current Trends in Cultivated Meat Production & Scaling

The Good Food Institute has released a new report, Trends in Cultivated Meat Scale-Up and Bioprocessing, that provides valuable insights into the production of cultivated meat. The report summarizes the findings of a comprehensive 2023 survey of 30 cultivated meat companies and equipment providers, which was conducted to uncover trends in equipment and material usage, production facilities, food safety, and scaling strategies. The following are the key findings of GFI’s survey. The complete report can be found here. Production facilities and sustainability Many companies are planning and building their first pre-pilot or pilot-scale production facilities to gain regulatory approval. 24 respondents revealed they use existing warehouses as facilities, while others are repurposing or building greenfield facilities. 14 out of 24 companies are either planning or have already made plans to …

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21st.BIO unveils a new pilot plant facility to accelerate the impact of biotech innovations globally.

Image courtesy of 21st.BIO

Fermentation

21st.BIO Unveils Cutting-Edge Facility to Accelerate Transition Between Lab and Large-Scale Fermentation

21st.BIO, a Danish bioproduction firm offering integrated end-to-end services, has launched a new pilot facility in its Danish headquarters in Søborg to facilitate and accelerate the transition between lab and large-scale fermentation of biotech innovations.  At its new plant, 21st.BIO aims to guide and support early-stage startups or large companies in scaling the production of recombinant proteins and peptides with applications in nutrition, F&B, agriculture, biomaterials, and biopharma.   The new plant features “state-of-the-art” processing equipment with over 3000 L fermentation capacity, focusing on optimizing specific processes. It offers services from strain construction to industrial production to help customers scale more quickly in a risk-mitigated and cost-effective way. Thomas Schmidt, co-founder and CEO of 21st.BIO, commented, “In this industry, upscaling mistakes cost a lot of money and time. For …

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3DBT cultivated meat steak

Image courtesy of 3D Bio-Tissues

Cultivated Meat

BSF & CellRev Form New Venture ‘Cultivated Meat Technologies Limited’ to Mass-Produce Cultivated Meat

Two UK firms, BSF Enterprise, owner of the UK clinical and cell ag company 3D Bio-Tissues (3DBT), and bioprocessing company CellRev, will combine their resources and expertise to launch a new company focused on the mass production of cultivated meat. BSF Enterprise (LSE: BSFA), (OTCQB: BSFAF), announced the exclusive joint venture, revealing they had already entered a Terms Sheet and expect to form the biotech in the coming months. The news follows the UK’s government recently announced a £2 billion plan to seize the potential of biotechnology. The new company, Cultivated Meat Technologies Limited (CMT), will create technology solutions to successfully scale the production of cell-based meat at lower costs to bring products to the market.  “We have observed the early success of 3D Bio tissues with …

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cellx cultivated meat on a plate

© CellX

Company News

CellX & Tofflon to Build “China’s First” Pilot Facility for Cultivated Meat Production

Chinese biotechnology company CellX and Tofflon, a provider of process support, core equipment, consumables, and system engineering solutions for global drug and food manufacturing, have announced a strategic agreement partnership to build China’s first pilot facility for cultivated meat production.  Additionally, the companies announced plans to develop innovative equipment and to build other global facilities for the commercial production of cultivated meat products.  Ziliang Yang, co-founder and CEO of CellX, said: “Tofflon is one of the world’s leading providers of comprehensive solutions for drug and food manufacturing, and their equipment and technologies can be quickly applied to the field of cultivated meat. As part of our strategic partnership, the construction of a pilot facility is the cornerstone of CellX’s journey to scale up cultivated meat production in …

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cellx cultivated meat on a plate

© CellX

Cultivated Meat

CellX & Tofflon to Build “China’s First” Pilot Facility for Cultivated Meat Production

Chinese biotechnology company CellX and Tofflon, a provider of process support, core equipment, consumables, and system engineering solutions for global drug and food manufacturing, have announced a strategic agreement partnership to build China’s first pilot facility for cultivated meat production.  Additionally, the companies announced plans to develop innovative equipment and to build other global facilities for the commercial production of cultivated meat products.  Ziliang Yang, co-founder and CEO of CellX, said: “Tofflon is one of the world’s leading providers of comprehensive solutions for drug and food manufacturing, and their equipment and technologies can be quickly applied to the field of cultivated meat. As part of our strategic partnership, the construction of a pilot facility is the cornerstone of CellX’s journey to scale up cultivated meat production in …

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Environmental Conscious Businessman in Nature

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Startups, Accelerators & Incubators

Bühler, Cargill, Givaudan & PURIS Announce the Scale It Up Innovation Challenge to Bring Sustainable Products to Market

Bühler, Cargill, Givaudan, and PURIS have joined forces to help accelerate startups that are innovating in sustainable plant-based proteins and provide them with the opportunity to bring their projects to market more quickly, with a new pitching contest called The Scale It Up Innovation Challenge. The Scale It Up Innovation Challenge is taking idea submissions until this Wednesday, August 4th. Companies wishing to enter the challenge can register at scale-it-up.org. On August 6, the top 15 projects will be selected by a panel of experts from the four partner companies. One winner and one runner-up will be chosen and provided ongoing support that will help them scale their product for market introduction. The Scale It Up Innovation Challenge will provide resources, mentorship, and expertise to …

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