CellX secures $4.3M to deliver 3D printed pork to China
Summary
Earlier this year, Israel-based food 3D printing firm Redefine Meat launched its first series of ‘New-Meat’ products to selected restaurants and hotels in Israel, consisting of plant-based burgers, sausages, kebabs, and other alt-meat offerings. The company’s team of 25 scientists is currently working on the development of the firm’s 3D bio-printed cultured meat structures and scaffolding prototypes, which it recently unveiled at a tasting event. The process works by harvesting cells from China’s native black pig and 3D bioprinting them into pork structures with the taste and mouthfeel of animal meat. In addition to its cell-based pork products, CellX is also looking to expand its tissue engineering and bioprinting processes to develop cultured fish, in light of Asia-Pacific consumers being predicted to drive nearly 75 percent of the projected rise in seafood demand in the coming years. For now, CellX’s focus is centered on the Chinese market, where food security is unsettled in light of the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and rising livestock diseases, such as African swine fever.