Food From Thought: June 2022

The debate over what to call meat made from animal cells grows, Abbot’s Butcher has expanded national distribution to Target, and Meati launches its first alternative protein steak.

Is it cultivated meat? Cell-based meat? Cell-cultured meat? Clean meat? Not meat at all? It’s been called all of these at some point, but what the final terminology should be depends on who you ask — according to the compilation of input following the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) comment period on the subject.

The FSIS asked for opinions on how meat made from animal cells should be labeled, and received a deluge of responses.

Comments came in from all over and included companies, industry groups, foreign and state governments, trade groups, consumer groups, public officials, private individuals, as well as Miyoko Schinner from Miyoko’s Creamery.

Included were perspectives from conventional meat industries as well as those working on the future of meat via cellular technology. As you can imagine, conventional players look to block all attempts to call these new products “meat” at all — which is quite reminiscent of the debate around whether plant-based milk should be called milk. 

Regardless of what it is called for now, the fact is that it doesn’t really matter — because meat made from animal cells isn’t going away anytime soon. With around 170 companies currently working on the technology, and plans in place to increase bioreactors and boost production efficiency, cellular agriculture continues to pave its way forward despite the obstacles.

It’s been hard to imagine anything different from the traditional large-scale animal and seafood farms we’ve known for decades. But now it’s hard to imagine that there won’t be an alternative — and one that’s free from animals, no less.

Abbot’s Butcher

• Abbot's Butcher Fuels Growth with Massive Retail Expansion at Target Nationally, in Addition to The Fresh Market and Fresh Thyme

Aleph Farms

• Middle East, Asia likely to become biggest markets for cultivated meat: Aleph Farms CEO

• 'It might replace cheap chicken or grass-fed beef or even prove irrelevant... we don't know yet': Project to probe if lab-grown meat is friend or foe to farmers

Beyond Meat

• China: Beyond Meat Launches Plant-Based Lunch Boxes Into 2,300 Lawson Stores 

• Kevin Hart Time Travels to Hype Beyond Meat for Every Era's Backyard Barbecue

Good Catch

• First Vegan Soups featuring Good Catch Now Available at Ladle & Leaf

• 5 Sustainable Plant-Based Seafood Companies Leading the Way

Imagindairy

• Imagindairy Closes its Seed Round, Reaching a Total of USD28M in Investment 

• Meat, milk and eggs: Israel’s making them without any animals

Meati Foods

• Meat the Future

• Meati launches its first alternative protein steak

Miyoko’s Creamery

• The Best Vegan Cheeses for Melting, Sprinkling, and Snacking

Mosa Meat

• UK eyes alt protein space to keep up with global moves in cell-based meat

• “Breakthrough in cultivated meat is fast approaching”

• Removing the Animals from Lab-Grown Meat

SuperMeat

• Cultivated Meat & Plant-Based Products Featured at Israel’s Independence Day Celebrations

UPSIDE Foods

• Cultured meat could come further out of the lab in 2022

• What Dinner Could Be Like In 100 Years

Zero Egg

• Egg shortage? Who cares? We’ve got hen-free alternatives

• Alternative protein startups slated for Future Food-Tech

• FoodDive: How should cell-based meat be labeled? What 1,179 comments to USDA say about stakeholders’ priorities

• The Guardian: World’s largest vats for growing ‘no-kill’ meat to be built in US

• Fast Company: 34 companies changing the world through food

• Food Engineering: Vegan diet lifestyle increases alternative protein market growth

• Food Navigator-Asia: Making friends: Do cultivated protein firms ‘have advantage’ over plant-based due to big food links?

• Green Queen: Cultivated Meat Might Seem Alien But It’s Better Than Animal Agriculture

• Visual Capitalist: A Visual Guide to the Science Behind Cultured Meat

• The Beet: The Biggest Meat Company in the World is Making Vegan Bacon