Umami Bioworks, a key player in cellular agriculture and sustainable biosolutions, has launched Arbiter, a new seafood safety and quality assurance solution aimed at addressing the growing challenges of pathogen detection and quality assessment across the seafood value chain.

Leveraging Umami Bioworks’ core marine biology knowledge, Arbiter marks a “pivotal expansion” of the company’s biotech offerings beyond its triumphs to date in cultivated seafood and pet food to a growing range of critical challenges that span many industries.

“Unprecedented precision”

According to Umami Bioworks, Arbiter offers unprecedented precision, speed and cost-effectiveness with higher sensitivity, breadth and quantification than current pathogen detection methods.

The nucleic acid-based testing platform can detect up to 800 unique targets in a single run and deliver actionable results in under six hours.

This innovation not only provides early pathogen detection but also drastically reduces labor intensity, with less than 15 minutes of preparation time for up to 50 samples. 

At less than US$1 per target, the cost-effective platform is set to democratize and universalize pathogen diagnostics and quality control by making them more accessible, objective and scalable than ever before.

Expanding biotech horizons

While Umami Bioworks is widely recognized for its pioneering work in cultivated seafood and pet food, the launch of its diagnostic platform signals the company’s bold, strategic move to leverage its key platform knowledge to establish innovative biotech solutions for broader markets. 

Arbiter is ideally suited for applications in aquaculture, food safety and quality assurance and species authentication, addressing critical needs across the value chain in industries such as:

Aquaculture: Revolutionizing disease detection in species like salmon, shrimp and tilapia, thereby minimizing growing economic losses attributed to infectious diseases.

Food Safety and Quality Assurance: Ensuring the integrity and safety of global food supplies by detecting pathogens, contaminants and quality markets with unparalleled accuracy.

Environmental Monitoring: Offering new capabilities for monitoring and protecting ecosystems by identifying harmful pathogens in aquatic environments.

“The introduction of Arbiter not only embodies our commitment to pushing scientific boundaries but also to creating real-world impact by tackling significant challenges across multiple industries,” says Umami Bioworks CEO Mihir Pershad. 

“It exemplifies our mission to harness the power of cellular biology and our ocean heritage to solve some of the world’s most pressing challenges and create a healthier future for humanity.”