The cultured meats industry has grown rapidly over the past few years, making significant strides within the Asian continent. Although Asia was not the first region to invest in cultured meat research, scientists and technologists have worked hard to make cultured meats a viable alternative to conventional meat products within the region.
Despite there being no current market for cultured meats, it is an area of great interest as various governments recognise that future food sustainability needs to be front and centre as we develop our economies and adapt our lives for a more sustainable future.
The adoption of cultured meats in our future depends on multiple layers of technology and regulations, as early research does show that there is demand and interest from consumers. One area of strong interest within Asia is cultured seafood.
With 90 per cent of the population in Japan, South Korea and Singapore consuming seafood and multiple cultures’ traditional meals centring around it, this market is a key area for the future of cultured meats in Asia.
The potential for the cultured meat market is still large, with predictions of the industry reaching a value of US$25 billion by 2030. Cultured seafood is expected to grow the fastest due to its high demand and projected lower cost to produce.
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Despite the potential, only a handful of companies have appeared to explore this segment, with Umami Meats — who recently went through the Rainmaking Expand programme — leading some of the efforts and research in the region.
Cultured meats in Asia — The growth, the challenges
Within Asia, we are seeing the growth and development of cultured meats, with news outlets rapidly increasing their coverage of activity in this space. Although Cultured Meats did not begin in the region and are only seeing five per cent of the total global funding, the industry found a home in the Asian markets.
Surveys within Asia have shown that there is a strong interest from consumers for the option of cultured meats to be available to them, indicating that there is a great opportunity space for companies in the market. It is important to note, though, that there is currently no market for cultured meat. Hence its demand cannot be precisely assessed but only forecasted.
While the demand may exist, it is clear that the governments will need to lead the shift towards offering alternatives in the market by laying down the framework for the policies and regulations around the space.
Governments have been showing interest in cultured meats. Singapore has implemented a ’30 by 30′ initiative where they aim to produce 30 per cent of nutritional needs locally and sustainably by 2030. This initiative has enabled and accelerated the cultured meats market, driving more companies to Singapore to leverage the opportunities created.
Furthermore, South Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety plans to lay the foundation for alternative proteins, including cultured meat, by 2024. This has triggered multiple companies in the market to accelerate their research and production capability so that they may be among the first movers in the market.
However, despite the progress being made around Asia, the regulations still have a long way to go before we see cultured meats regularly sold in our local supermarkets. This has not hindered the development and evolution of the cultured meats space, which has continued to iterate on its products, redevelop the growth serum to more affordable and sustainable options and even work on developing the ecosystem around the technology.
Umami Meats and their role in developing the ecosystem
Umami Meats, a cultured seafood startup from Singapore, is developing CultivateOS, a modular, standardised, automated production platform for cultivating cultured, ‘not caught’ seafood for species that are at risk of extinction, considered delicacies, and have no sustainable alternative to increase production.
Umami Meats has been gaining interest and rapidly growing as it now aims to establish its pilot facility in 2024 and to have its products within 10% of the market price upon launch. By focusing on enabling technology, they have collaborated and built connections throughout the industry to grow the ecosystem’s adoption of cultivated protein while raising awareness of the importance of sustainability.
“Our strategy is very much focusing on developing enabling technology and then partnering with traditional food manufacturing and fishing companies to bring these products to consumers.” Shared Mihir Pershad, CEO of Umami Meats. Although the concept seems rather straightforward, this is a sign of the cultured meat industry shifting.
When we look at the first generation of cultured meat companies, we recognise that they had to build up the entire value chain by themselves, as possible collaborators and supporters did not exist in many capacities for the space at the time.
But as the industry matures and heads towards commercialisation, the space is seeing an increase in participation by traditional players spanning the entire value chain. Pershad highlighted that it is incredibly important to knit these different players together and connect them with the existing food industry supply chains in order for the industry as a whole to achieve success.
By getting involved with various players within the ecosystem and by developing a tech layer that other companies can utilise to develop their own production facilities and branded products, Umami Meats aims to evolve the cultured seafood industry that we currently know into a highly networked ecosystem that enables more effective collaboration, cross-communication, and commercial development.
Furthermore, Umami Meats has been exploring Asian markets beyond their local Singapore. The company is talking with potential partners in South Korea, Japan and more and is contributing to the evolution and development of the regulator’s understanding of the space in hopes of providing the needed information for policies and regulations to be introduced.
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As the process of launching a new category is incredibly complicated, Umami Meats has been in discussion with key players in the respective markets, understanding their vision of the cultured meat space and guiding their understanding. They aim to power the industry’s adoption of cultivated production in order to enable the growth of a new category of cultivated and hybrid products.
Changing the landscape for cultured meats in Asia
As the region has seen strong and urgent demand for alternative proteins, cultured meats have rapidly evolved as a result. Asia now stands as one of the leading regions for its development and multiple companies are diving into various aspects of the value chain, evolving and iterating upon it as they prepare for commercialisation.
It is the startups and other key players within the food tech market that are at the root of the changing landscape for cultured meats. After what can be considered the first wave of cultured meats companies’ success stories with Mosa Meat, Upside Foods and Eat Just, the space has opened up further to dive into what a future with cultured meats can look like.
Over the last couple of years, Asia has seen an increase in Government-Startup, Startup-Research and Startup-Corporate collaborations to take the next steps for the evolution of cultured meats.
The South Korean government has been supporting cultured meat companies such as KCell Biosciences to grow and refine their research with CJ CheilJedang to be at the forefront of South Korean cultured meat solutions while the government regulatory board develops the needed regulations for public sale.
Meanwhile, corporates in Japan are working together with startups in the region, exploring how their current facilities could be utilised to accelerate and scale up the production of cultured meats as commercialisation becomes more realistic in the following years.
Lastly, the Singaporean government has been leading the region in cultured meats by being the first country in the world to allow for its commercial sale. Until now, only one company has been granted the right to sell cultured meat for public consumption, but these are only the first stepping stones to a sustainable, new meat future.
As all these different players start moving into the cultivated space, Umami Meats has been in conversations with multiple layers within the ecosystem, making sure that they have built the network to develop excellent cultivated products for each country and have the production value chain established and ready to launch as soon as the regulatory frameworks allow.
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