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Forsea achieves record-breaking cell density for cultivated seafood
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Friday, 15 November, 2024, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Rehovot, Israel
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Cell-cultivated seafood innovator Forsea struck a major breakthrough in making freshwater eel farming a viable commercial reality. The start-up announced its organoid technology reached a record-breaking cell density of more than 300 million cells/ml, and with minimal and precise use of cultured media ingredients.
This is the highest cell density recorded in the field, moving the company to the forefront of cultured seafood production efficiency. The landmark technology allows for a scalable and highly cost-effective supply for the hugely popular traditional Japanese delicacy, eel (unagi) whose availability has been significantly hampered by overfishing and the destruction of aquatic ecosystems.
It is currently focusing on manufacturing cultured freshwater eel due to the immense market potential, particularly in Japan. As the world’s largest consumer of eel, Japan recorded sales of 140,000 tons in 2023—50% of total global sales. The traditional Japanese dish unagi (eel) is considered a premium delicacy, prized not only for its rich flavor and tender texture but also because of its rarity. Freshwater eel is endangered and cannot be commercially bred in captivity. Demand for eel far surpasses the industry’s current supply capabilities, translating to skyrocketing prices.
Setting a new standard for “blue ocean” initiatives, the company created a new approach to cell cultivating fish tissues outside of their native water habitats via organoid technology. Its patent-protected platform involves creating the ideal environment for animal cells to spontaneously assemble into three-dimensional tissue structures with their natural composition of fat, muscle and connective tissue.
This method not only echoes the natural growth process of these tissues in a living animal, giving it a closer-to-nature edge, it bypasses the scaffolding stage and is dramatically less dependent on expensive growth factors. This makes the process highly affordable and positions its cell-grown version to price parity (or potentially lower) with traditional aqua-farmed eel, a key challenge the cell-based industry was desperate to overcome.
Moria Shimoni, CTO of Forsea, said, “The breakthrough to this level of cell density highlights the strength of our organoid technology. It’s a validation of our approach to high-efficiency cultivation of seafood to meet both economic and sustainability goals at scale.”
After completing its proof-of-concept continuous harvesting process, the company reports it is ready to take production of its cultured fish products to the next phase of commercial scale-up.
Roee Nir, founder and CEO of Forsea, said, “Forsea’s organoid technology requires less capital expenditure than other technologies. Achieving this level of cell density with minimal resources will translate to substantial reductions in the unit of economics and will bring cultured seafood production to a cost that is actually below the traditional market price. This is major milestone for Forsea and validates our vision of making sustainable, high-quality seafood affordable and widely accessible. It also sets a powerful precedent for scaling other cultured seafood products and establishing sustainable alternative supply chains for ecologically sensitive species.”
Its cell-cultured eel is expected to ease the strain on the world’s eel populations and reduce environmental impact of traditional eel farming. This encompasses reducing global warming potential, water consumption, and land use and alleviated pressure on marine ecosystems by focusing on endangered species.
Elliot Swartz, principal scientist cultivated meat, GFI, said, "Our recent industry survey shows that cultivated meat production is definitely not a one-size-fits-all approach. It's encouraging to see positive data from companies showing how different methods can address challenges in cost and scale. I'm especially pleased to see a GFI research grantee, Dr Iftach Nachman, help a startup pioneer new way of cultivating meat. This is a great example of how foundational open-access science enables and makes possible follow-on work by the private sector."
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