How to be first to the table with lab-based meat

LinkedIn News recently predicted that alternative protein would be one of the biggest ideas to change our world in 2023. With experience in the plant-based foods industry dating to 2015, we agree.?

No. 13 on the list of 41 Big Ideas That Will Change Our World in 2023 anticipates that “Lab-Based Meat Will Hit More Plates,” and explains such alternative proteins have the potential to benefit the environment and alleviate the ethical challenges of animal farming.?

“But despite billions of venture capital dollars pouring into the field,” writes LinkedIn Tech and Innovation News Editor Marty McCarthy “we have yet to see cell-cultured cutlets in grocery aisles. In 2023, lab-grown meat will gain momentum across the world.” ?

Coincidentally, as we looked ahead to the new year, The Haskell Company addressed the challenges and benefits of #alternativeproteins from numerous angles during the last week of 2022.?

Haskell began working in the plant-based foods industry in 2015, partnering with a confidential #plantbased protein client as it scaled up from benchtop manufacturing to a full commercial production facility, which more closely resembled other #foodmanufacturing facilities than it did a meat rendering plant. ?

There is an art to supporting clients with design and construction projects while their product is still in research and development (R&D). Often, facility design and equipment selection are underway as researchers continue to tweak their product. At times, modifications need to be made to equipment or the facility based on the product’s final form. Running a product at scale comes with its own challenges, as the product can behave differently in a larger batch than in a pilot batch. ?

This is where it is invaluable to work with a designer who understands the challenges, risks and pitfalls of scaling up from R&D, and Haskell has a team of such subject matter experts (SMEs). For instance, Candice Kofsky is a Senior Process Design Specialist with an extensive biochemical engineering background and nearly a decade working in alt-protein manufacturing.

And while no one has brought cell-cultured meat to the U.S. market yet, it is in production in multiple Asian nations. Singapore was the first to the lab-meat table when it approved a cultivated chicken product for human consumption in 2020, the “Big Ideas” article reports, and in 2022, China released a five-year agriculture plan that addresses cultivated meats.

In addition to its deep expertise, Haskell has numerous offices and design centers in China, the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore and its leadership specifically has addressed the challenge of meeting the demand of those for whom Geraldine Goh, Director at Temasek’s Enterprise Development Group, has coined the term “New Asian Consumers.”