Cell Based Tech Weekly – Agronomics Sees Seismic Shift, Nissin Foods Ramen Research, Impossible Pork Headed to China

Richard Reed, Chairman of cell based meat investment firm, Agronomics Limited (LSE:ANIC), stated cellular agriculture is a “very rare once in a generation seismic shift” in an interview with Proactive Investors UK.

Reed, who was also the co-Founder of Innocent Drinks (environmentally sustainable juice company and sold to Coca Cola in 2013 for $600m), believes cellular agriculture is a proposition that does not require consumers to compromise on what they truly want to eat. He goes on to say that plant based meats have a valuable place in the market, but cell based meat is a more viable long term solution because it’s bio-identical to real meat.
As for when this seismic shift will occur? Reed believes cell based meat will reach price parity in 2-3 years. https://cellbased.link/2gm

Research

🍜 Japanese ramen conglomerate, Nissin Food Holdings conducted a survey in collaboration with Hirosaki University on consumer acceptance of cultured meat. https://cellbased.link/wyz

What They Found: of the 2,000 men and women, 20 to 59 years old, only 30% said they would like to consume cultured meat. The results indicated low acceptability is partially due to low recognition and consumer knowledge of the benefits.

Why We Care: Nissin Food Holdings is a multinational food manufacturer with meat in many of its ramen products. Nissin is the only food processor I have seen working on cultivating and researching cell based meat internally, creating a more vertically integrated supply chain.

Announcements

👩🏾‍🔬Connell, a Wilbur-Ellis company and a leading marketer and distributor of specialty chemicals and ingredients announced an exclusive agreement for the distribution of Geltor’s lab grown collagen for the Asia-Pacific cosmetics market. https://cellbased.link/7c8c7

This news comes shortly after Geltor signed a letter of intent with leading animal collagen manufacturer, GELITA for developing, producing and marketing ingestible animal-free collagen proteins – to be launched in late 2020.
According to TechCrunch sources, Geltor is also looking to raise what would be a Series B financing round for between $50,000,000-$100,000,000. They have currently raised $22,950,000.

🇨🇳This past Wednesday, Impossible Foods CEO, Pat Brown, was at the China International Import Expo in Shanghai discussing the development of Impossible plant based pork for the Chinese market. https://cellbased.link/91x

In an interview with Bloomberg, Brown stated the plant pork prototype is developed and ready to move into the commercialization phase.
Impossible does not currently sell any of its products in China. Hong Kong, Singapore, and Macau are the only Asian location where Impossible is available with Singapore being it’s best market. https://cellbased.link/88i