Bioreactor Food Production |

We’ve talked about the American firms that are promoting vegetarian based meat and fish substitutes. Beyond Meat, Impossible Foods. Even firms that are cultivated meat and chicken from starter cultures.

Today, I will talk about several biotech firms in Israel. The first one has pivoted from regenerative medicine (based upon human placenta cells) to food production. It has changed its name from Pluristem (2003) to Pluri, under the direction of Yaky Yanay (Chaifa, Israel, but traded on Nasdaq and the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange).

It has entered into a joint venture with Tnuva. (Tnuva is a large Israeli food vendor.) The venture is tackling the markets of cultivated meat, dairy, and fish. Pluri is using its knowledge and expertise in cell science (including the natural growing conditions of cells), while Tnuva knows the food industry, supply systems, and flavoring needs for the products. Since no methane will be produced growing the animal cells- and the conditions are tailored to produce food directly, the venture is more attuned to climate needs and sustainability. The same conditions apply to the marine environment.

But, this joint venture is not alone. There’s also Mermade Seafoods, based in Jerusalem. Their first product is scallops, an expensive food choice that has a strong market. Worldwide sales are on the order of $ 8 billion, of which $ 600 million is for the US alone. They just raised some $ 3 million to build upon the concepts that meat cultivators use- but for scallop production; Moreover, their system involves recycling the growth medium. Actually, they start with biowaste (water, ammonia, and carbon dioxide), which they use to produce algae. That algae is then the growth media to grow the scallops. (They call this “cytoponics”, and they’ve patented the process.)

Not only will the cost for scallop production be below conventional methods, the supply will be greatly augmented. It is their goal to market the scallops commercially by 2023.

Moreover, these Israeli companies recognize that our ability to provide the desired food to the world using conventional agricultural/mariculture systems is not sufficient for our future needs. Hence the push to develop the cellular-based systems.