Hot on the heels of breakthrough regulatory approvals in the US for cultivated chicken, there are more moves in cellular agriculture this week with Czech start-up Mewery unveiling a cell-cultivated pork burger poised for US and Singapore foodservice markets and Bluu Seafood raised €16 million (US$17.5 million) in Series A funding to bring cultivated fish to market.

Mewery’s burger combines porcine cells with microalgae cells.

The burger prototype was introduced during the Rock for People festival, a large Czech cultural event with 40,000 people attending. Even though a public tasting is not possible in the EU yet, around 90% of the event’s attendees stated they would be interested in tasting the burger, notes the company.

Cell cultivated meat is currently approved for sale only in the US and Singapore.

Last week, Upside Foods and Good Meat received landmark regulatory clearance for US cultivated chicken sales in what is described as a “new era for meat.”

Cutting costs and scaling up
While the US companies are focusing on chicken production, Mewery says it plans to enter the US market with its novel fortified pork products within the next two years.

“We have managed to get the price of the culture medium down to a few dollars per liter, which allows us to gradually increase the testing of our co-culture in larger volumes and to expand our parallel sensory laboratory for the final texture and taste of our products,” Mewery founder Roman Lauš explains.

“We are working with the Czech government on the so-called “non-employee” tastings, which could be possible as early as next year. This could make the Czech Republic the second country in the EU after the Netherlands to accelerate the introduction of alternative proteins.”

“However, it is still a matter of a few years before legislation is in place at the EU level to allow the sale of cultivated meat to end consumers, so we want to focus on the US and Asian markets first.”

Cultivation medium based on microalgae
Mewery’s model involves replacing fetal bovine serum, a component of animal origin commonly used in laboratories. This was the main reason for the start-up to develop its own cultivation medium based on microalgae. The medium is used for the co-cultivation of the porcine cell line, derived from the umbilical cord, with microalgae, so no animal is killed during the process.

It is this co-cultivation with microalgae that adds nutritional value to the final meat, stresses the company.

Pork is the most popular meat in Europe and Asia.

Meanwhile, Bluu Seafood German start-up has secured the necessary capital to advance its technology and the market launch of its first products. Cultivated fish is real animal protein directly grown from fish cells without killing the animal.

The company says approval in Singapore is expected in 2024 and the approval process in the US has been initiated with the FDA.

The main focus will be on hybrid products such as fish balls and fish fingers made from cultivated fish cells.

“On the one hand, our highly successful Series-A demonstrates the enormous future potential that lies in cultivated fish as a platform technology for sustainable animal protein. On the other hand, it also underlines the strong scientific development that Bluu Seafood and our excellent team have delivered so far. Together with our strong, international investor base, we can start the next stage of development and bring our first products to market,” says Dr. Sebastian Rakers, Co-Founder and CEO of Bluu Seafood.