Page 33 - FoodFocusThailand No.206 MAY 2023

SPECIAL FOCUS

What is Cultivated Meat? What Makes It invested in cultivated meat companies to date. While there has
Special? been some recent slowdown of investment, it remains on an
Cultivated meat is meat (from any animal, whether land, upward trend, with a market value of up to $1.3 billion. However,
sea, or even internal organs) produced by directly in the year 2022, there was a slowdown in investment to only
cultivating animal cells, without raising the animal itself. $896 million. That’s down about 33 percent from the previous
The process of producing cultivated meat starts by taking year, which is still higher than the average global fundraising
stem cells from the animal, and feeding them with culture market decline of about 35 percent.
media, consisting of essential nutrients and factors such Startup - The number of startups in the industry has
as glucose, minerals, vitamins, oxygen, amino acids, steadily increased over the years, with over 156 startups
hormones, and growth factors, inside a large bioreactor currently focused on cultivated meat, most of which are in
under high-density conditions. When the feeding and the end product formulation and manufacturing category (94).
environmental conditions are controlled precisely, these The top three countries with the most cultivated meat startups
stem cells will proliferate and differentiate into specific are the United States (43), Israel (17), the United Kingdom (17),
types of cells, such as muscle cells, fat cells, or liver and Singapore (12). The types of meat being produced range
cells, and eventually form a lump of meat that can be from chicken (e.g., UPSIDE Foods and Just Eat in the United
consumed. States), pork (e.g., CellX in China), beef (e.g., Aleph Farms in
Israel), fish (e.g., Avant Meat in Hong Kong), shrimp (e.g., Shiok
How is Cultivated Meat Good for the Meat in Singapore), and even foie gras (e.g., Gourmey in
World? France).
The United Nations predicts that the world’s population Production - Currently, most animal meat producers are
will increase from 8 billion in 2020 to 9 billion by 2050, beginning to move into pilot-scale production, which has a
resulting in an increased demand for meat from 350 production capacity of several hundred tons, and have
million tons per year to 460-570 million tons per year, a started to collaborate with large food industry companies
50-70% increase within 30 years. Meanwhile, the to develop and introduce their products into the market.
current global food industry uses a significant amount of Examples include Future Meat from Israel and UPSIDE
resources and emits greenhouse gases, using over Food from the United States, which have invested in creating
50% of habitable land, over 70% of freshwater, and factories with the maximum production capacity of 100 and 200
emitting over 13.7 billion tons of carbon dioxide per year,
accounting for 26% of total global carbon emissions per
year. Although cultivated meat cannot completely
replace traditional meat production, it is an essential
part of increasing the meat supply to meet the growing
demand while reducing environmental impacts.
Cultivated meat requires a short cultivation time of
only 5-7 weeks, compared to 1-20 times longer for
traditional animal farming. It also requires less land and
water since there is no need to allocate space for
animal walking, and the cultivated meat produced can be
totally consumed without going to waste i.e. no bones,
and no internal organs. Moreover, cultivated meat emits
5 to 20 times fewer carbon emissions than traditional
animal farming depending on the species and facilities
compared.
What is the Current State of the Cultivated
Meat Industry?
Cultivated meat first gained public attention in 2013 when
a team of scientists at Maastricht University in the
Netherlands introduced the first-ever burger made from
cultivated beef. At the time, the cost was around $478,993
per kilogram or more than 15 million baht but since then,
new players have entered the market, making it more
accessible and affordable. Since 2020, there have
been concerns about the sustainability and security of
our food supply, which has led to an increased interest in
cultivated meat.
Investment - Overall, investment in the industry
has been strong since 2016, with over $2.78 billion

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