The cultivated meat industry is poised to achieve commercial success, with the recent green lights in Singapore, the US, and prospective plans in Japan, according to Savir, CEO of SuperMeat. Although Europe’s approval will take longer, Savir remains confident that such moves will pave the way for the region to jump on board as well. SuperMeat has been playing an active role in communicating with European regulatory bodies through the Cellular Agriculture Europe. Its Head of Regulatory Affairs, Beth Loberant, is on the Board of Directors, responsible for helping the EU adapt to the new framework.
Currently, several firms, including SuperMeat, have opened pilot facilities for cultivated meat. Savir believes that the commercialization phase is underway, with many companies receiving regulatory approvals and soon to hit the market at some commercial scale. SuperMeat is currently busy submitting its US GRAS dossier, with commercial launches planned by early 2025. Last year, the company was buzzing about the first-ever public blind tasting comparing cultivated and conventional chicken. Such tasting demonstrated that cultivated meat and traditional meat are indistinguishable.
SuperMeat is focused on creating a “meal-ready” chicken cultivated meat product using embryonic stem cells and supplies as an ingredient for meat and food companies worldwide. The company’s goal is to develop a three-stage business model, supplying applications in-house as the first stage, then offering the cultivated meat as an ingredient for other companies to create their product application, and finally supplying the equipment for companies to produce the product themselves. It has already signed MoU with PHW Group to bring cultivated poultry products to European consumers via SuperMeat’s proprietary cultivated meat platform and with Switzerland’s largest supermarket and meat manufacturer, Migros.
SuperMeat’s major hurdle is to drive down costs and scale up production, particularly producing feed for the cell lines on an industrial scale, which accounts for 60-80% of the end product’s cost. The company has partnered with food and biotech company Ajinomoto Co to address this issue. Additionally, environmental questions surround cultivated meat as a potential solution to reduce the traditional meat industry’s environmental impact. According to a study published in the International Journal of Life Cycle Assessments, cultivated meat produced at scale using renewable energy could reduce carbon footprint by 92%, land use by 90%, and water use by 66%, compared to conventional beef production.
SuperMeat remains optimistic about the future of cultivated meat and its potential to revolutionize the food system, provide nutritional security, drastically reduce carbon emissions, and increase food safety worldwide.