Elliot Swartz

The 15 foods destroying rainforests, in one simple chart New research reveals which food crops are razing the rainforest. One comes out way ahead — and it’s an American favorite.

Data from: www.vox.com/climate/4800...

In just the last 20 years, beef production destroyed global forests the size of California, mostly in the tropics

Through tree loss alone (not including methane or feed crop production), this caused 3x the annual CO2 emissions of the US

It's the cow, not the how. Invest in #cultivatedmeat.

China's 'new proteins' bet: A win for Singapore Discover how China's investment in 'new proteins' and biomanufacturing is advancing global food security and benefiting Singapore's innovation efforts. Read more at straitstimes.com. Read more at stra...

China continues to heavily invest in alternative proteins.

Would not be surprising if they replicate their control of supply chains like batteries and solar, but for future protein production

www.straitstimes.com/singapore/sc...

Scientists in China publish one of the first studies using spent cell culture media as a fertilizer.

Another potential way to valorize waste and increase circularity in the cellular agriculture ➡️ conventional agriculture industries.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

With uncertain regulatory timelines, #cultivatedmeat companies are developing other ways to generate revenue by selling media inputs/services & cell culture-derived cosmetics

A growing trend to monitor, with 1 company already reporting profitable operations in 2025:

Cultivated meat companies raised ~$38M in Q4 2025, bringing the lifetime total for the industry to ~$3.4B

Funding remains down, but slightly up from early 2025

Get quarterly updates to your inbox: gfi.org/newsletters/

Alternative protein literature library | GFI Our alternative protein literature library features resources for plant-based, cultivated, and fermentation-derived proteins pulled by our science and technology team.

We've recently compiled a list of over 1,500 patents in the #cultivatedmeat sector & nearly 3,000 in the fermentation sector.

You can search and filter the public database at the link below:

gfi.org/resource/alt...

Japanese Cellular Agriculture Pioneer IntegriCulture Becomes Profitable in 2025 Japanese biotech startup IntegriCulture posted full-year profitability in 2025, driven by its cellular agriculture infrastructure and products.

Japanese #cultivatedmeat startup Integriculture achieves profitability in 2025, not by selling meat (yet), but by selling research tools and cosmetics inputs derived from their R&D:

www.greenqueen.com.hk/integricultu...

Evergreen Select steps out of Omeat shadow with US$6 million raise and a stability-first pitch for beef | PPTI News Evergreen Select rebranded from Omeat and secured US$6 million in fresh funding, outlining a B2B strategy that framed cultivated beef as an infrastructure tool for stabilizing volatile beef supply cha...

LA-based OMeat rebrands into Evergreen Select and raises $6M to bring its cultivated beef to market, where it is currently under review in the US and Singapore:

www.proteinproductiontechnology.com/post/evergre...

Nice data in this pre-print by Integriculture, outlining the production of cultivated duck liver in packed bed bioreactors

With Japan finalizing its regulatory process, this product may be the first to market in the region 🇯🇵

Paper here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Innocent Meat Raises €6M to Develop Automated Cell-Based Meat Platform - Cultivated X German biotechnology company Innocent Meat has secured €6 million in a new financing round to support the development of its automated production technology

German startup Innocent Meat raises €6M to develop an automated cultivated meat manufacturing platform:

cultivated-x.com/investments-...

Israel's Aleph Farms Chooses Singapore to Expand Lab-Grown Meat Across Asia Israeli cultivated meat startup Aleph Farms has partnered with contract manufacturer Cell Agritech and set up an entity in Singapore to serve as its Asia-Pacific hub.

Aleph Farms partners with co-manufacturer CellAgritech in Singapore as they await regulatory approval of their cultivated beef product:

www.greenqueen.com.hk/aleph-farms-...

Lucius Labs We aim to supercharge your development path by redefining what cell culture media can achieve.

UPSIDE Foods spins out a new cell culture media and analytics company, Lucius Labs.

An emerging trend in the cultivated meat sector to bring in revenue from other products and services besides meat products:

luciuslabs.com

Federal Judge Grants Early Win in Challenge to Texas Ban on Cultivated Meat  - Institute for Justice AUSTIN, Texas—At a hearing this afternoon, a federal judge denied the State of Texas’s motion to dismiss the Institute for Justice’s lawsuit challenging Texas’s ban […]

Challenge against the #cultivatedmeat ban in Texas is allowed to proceed:

ij.org/press-releas...

Despite ‘Carbon Neutral’ Certifications, Beef Emissions Can Be Lower, but Never Low Research shows there’s no such thing as climate-friendly beef, despite labels claiming otherwise.

There's no such thing as climate-friendly beef, and grass-fed is the worst of all:

www.wri.org/insights/tru...

China's national mission to reimagine the bioreactor China has adopted a large national mission with 100+ organisations working on 9 specific bioreactor tasks

Take note — China has adopted a national mission with ~80 organizations working on 28 projects to revolutionize the bioreactor.

Lots of implications for future medicine, chemical, and food manufacturing.

By @dvanderkley:

dirkvanderkley.substack.com/p/chinas-nat...

U.Porto spin-off Cell4Food secures €1.5M to advance cell-based seafood innovation Beginning with octopus cells, Cell4Food is developing cellular aquaculture technologies to support sustainable, scalable seafood production.

Portugese startup Cell4Food awarded a €1.5M grant from the Portugal 2030 government program.

They are the only company in the world developing cultivated octopus. This can be a workaround to avoid the sad efforts of factory farming octopus

portugalstartupnews.com/2026/01/07/u...

What phrases and terms should be used when describing #cultivatedmeat to U.S. consumers? A poll of 3500 people show how to balance descriptive information with appealing vs. polarizing phrases:

Data here: gfi.org/resource/exp...

Just pre-ordered Meat by @brucefriedrich.bsky.social and Feed the People by @jandutkiewicz.bsky.social and @gnrosenberg.bsky.social.

Looking forward to reading these when they drop in February

According to the only study that has been done on this topic (to my knowledge), cultivated meat may have a higher digestibility than conventional animal proteins (whey, casein, egg, pork). More studies needed, but an interesting first result:

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

BlueNalu nets US$11 million to move cultivated bluefin toro closer to market | PPTI News BlueNalu secured approximately US$11 million through insider-led convertible note and preferred stock financings as it prepared for the commercialization of cultivated bluefin tuna toro, pending regul...

BlueNalu raises $11M from existing investors to continue development of its cultivated bluefin tuna.

Hopefully we will see this reach the market in H1 2026.

www.proteinproductiontechnology.com/post/bluenal...

Mosa Meat raises $17.6m; prioritizes 'fundamentals over speed' Cultivated meat co Mosa Meat raises $17.6m days after Meatable and Believer Meats ceased operations citing an inability to raise new funds.

Mosa Meat raises $17.6M on the heels of two other recent company collapses. Their cultivated beef product is under review in Singapore, the EU, the UK, and Switzerland:

agfundernews.com/mosa-meat-ra...

Data from t.co/Pph5fRYO1s

and www.claimingsteaks.com/700-to-1-the...

Spending in agricultural R&D, which takes decades to materialize, has declined by ~1/3 compared to previous decades.

In animal ag, the vast majority of money (700:1) supports the status quo that is literally eating the Earth, rather than more efficient alternatives.

周子未来建成国内最大细胞培养肉中试工厂 JOES FUTURE FOOD2025年12月12日，我国细胞培养肉产业迎来历史性突破！

Chinese startup 'Joes Future Food' completes 2000L pilot run for its cultivated pork process, making it the largest-scale cultivated meat facility in China, capable of producing ~10-50 tons annually

mp.weixin.qq.com/s/TWu6Xjy5PU...

Congrats to this year's cohort of @gfi.org research grantees. Happy to be supporting 7 different cell line development projects for #cultivatedmeat and seafood:

Read more about them here: gfi.org/blog/where-k...

Amino acid cost and supply chain analysis for cultivated meat Watch the recording: https://youtu.be/CZBlrxJ4x28 Amino acids are among the largest cost drivers in cultivated meat production, but a new GFI analysis shows clear opportunities to lower costs and scale production. This webinar explored findings from a new white paper that evaluates pathways to unlock a cost-effective, scalable amino acid supply for the cultivated meat industry. This first-of-its-kind analysis draws on real-world price data, industry interviews, and future demand modeling to identify where cost drivers and supply bottlenecks may emerge and how innovation can keep pace. Review the slide deck to learn: -- Why the amino acid cost contribution to cultivated meat production is significantly lower than previously reported -- How agricultural byproducts show promise as affordable alternative amino acid sources -- Which amino acids pose the greatest long-term cost and supply risks This analysis explores how suppliers, producers, researchers, and policymakers can work together to build a resilient, affordable amino acid supply chain that helps unlock scalable, sustainable cultivated meat production. - Download as a PDF or view online for free

Downloadable slide deck here:

www.slideshare.net/slideshow/am...

Amino acid cost and supply chain analysis for cultivated meat YouTube video by The Good Food Institute

Webinar link here:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZBl...

Key finding 4: A subset of amino acids poses outsized cost and supply risks.

We identify individual AA cost drivers in media and map those that should be the focal points for the cultivated meat sector.

Key finding 3: Hydrolysates have been hypothesized as a solution for reducing the cost burden of AAs, however, a lot of R&D is still needed before this happens.

We model potential candidates for hydrolysates & place a price range for hydrolysate development.