More and more conventional animal agriculture companies are lining up to explore cultivated meat production. One of the latest is Vietnam company Minh Phu Seafood Corporation and their agreement with Shiok Meats to set up a joint research and development facility in Vietnam. As Shiok’s Sandhya Sriram says “Our satellite R&D facility in Vietnam will focus on high-quality cultivated shrimp research and technology.” Shiok and Minh Phu will also explore the feasibility of operating cultivated meat facilities in Vietnam, with Min Phu looking at the marketing and distribution of the product.
With Shiok’s cultivated seafood facility under construction in Singapore they’re powering ahead after raising some USD30 m to date. They plan to release product to a high end restaurant in 2023 and will join Good Meat from Eat Just, Inc. in selling commercial cultivated meat products in Singapore.
Even small scale releases can generate publicity for the technology and increase the consumer’s comfort level. Familiarity, together with transparency are key to consumer acceptance of this and any other new food technology. The more exposure cultivated meat can enjoy the better the chances of adding it to the arsenal of new technologies we’re going to need to feed the 10 bn global population in 2050.
