Chinese cultured meat company CellX has announced that it has been selected as one of the six finalists (out of 353 participants) of the XPRIZE Feed the Next Billion (FTNB). Competition to develop alternative proteins.
FTNB, established inside 2020, encourages startup per Bikash alternative the chicken the breast or the fish filet product that beyond conventional the meat inside Conditions of nutrition, the taste, And structure. Moreover, These are product of course stay affordable And propaganda environmental Durability And animal welfare.
© XPRIZE Foundation
six bBreakthroughs in food technology
As XPRIZE explains, a judging panel of diverse experts working at the highest levels of international sustainability, agricultural and biological engineering, the food industry and academia and research selects the finalists.
The following teams will compete for the $12 million final prize in 2024:
- Revo Foods: Plant-based fish from Austria
- Eternal: Fermented chicken from Argentina
- The PlantEat: Plant-based chicken from South Korea
- Profilet: Plant-Based Fish Canada
- TFTAK: Plant-Based Fish Group from Estonia
- CellX: Cell-based chicken team from China
Peter Diamandis, Executive Chairman of the Board of XPRIZE, said: “Pervasive technologies are empowering mankind to reinvent how we feed the world. Today 9 million people die of hunger every year and 25% of humanity does not get enough nutrition.
“Advances in food technology will allow us to feed a growing world of 8+ billion people cheap, good-tasting, and high-quality protein.”
CellX in the semi-final testing
The Chinese startup presented its farmed chicken breast at the semi-final testing in Abu Dhabi.
CellX describes: “After frying in a normal oil, the fresh aroma of the chicken was released. ‘It’s amazing, I’m eating farmed chicken, which is no different from the chicken I normally eat,’ said the judges at an on-site tasting session.
The company explains that its cultured chicken is raised using a platform that combines fibrous scaffold technology, which allows for a meat-like texture and chicken cells for flavor and structure.
Human transformation
Founded in 2020 and located in Shanghai, CellX Has raised $15M+ to date and has 40 experts in R&D focusing on building platform technologies with a multi-species approach.
In September 2021, the biotech revealed food made from cultured pork grown with cells from China’s indigenous black pigs. In April 2022, CellX partnered with Blue Seafood to “make cellular agriculture a reality” and seek regulatory approval in Germany and China.
In February, the company announced a strategic agreement with Toflon to build “China’s first” pilot facility for the production of cultured meat.
“We believe that new protein technologies can redefine the way food is produced and consumed and promote people’s transition to more sustainable lifestyles. We all look forward to the day when CellX can bring farmed meat to consumers in China and around the world,” commented CellX.