If artificial eel meat can reduce overfishing of eel fry while retaining its delicious flavor and texture, would you buy it?
As eels become a delicacy on the table, the pressure to survive has also increased, and start-up companies have invested in the research and development of artificial eel meat.
As wild eel fry dwindle, eel prices continue to rise, but foodies still cling to their love of eel rice and unagi sushi. Israeli food startup Forsea Foods is developing artificial eel meat, using organoid culture technology to produce it.
"We can produce a product that is exactly the same as eel in taste, texture, appearance and nutritional value," said Roee Nir, co-founder and CEO of Forsea Foods. He said this cultivation technology is very suitable for use on seafood because seafood has uniform texture, unlike beef with fat distribution.
Forsea Foods was founded in 2021, and its first product is artificial eel meat. In an exclusive interview with Spoon, Neil explained that this is because the eel market is in short supply, prices are high, and eels are endangered.
He pointed out that according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List, more than 700 edible species in marine ecosystems are facing extinction, and the number of eels has decreased by 90% to 95% in the past decade.
Eels have a complex reproductive process. They grow in rivers and migrate to the ocean to spawn when they mature, spawning only once in their lifetime. For many years, eel farming has relied almost entirely on wild-caught eel fry, leading to over-consumption of natural resources and a steady decline in wild eel fry.
According to Forsea Foods, the cultured meat, which is grown in a similar way to live fish, has the potential to recreate the authentic flavor of eels and alleviate the crisis caused by overfishing and pollution.
According to The Guardian, Forsea Foods uses embryonic stem cells from fertilized eel eggs to create organoids. These organoids can then generate cultured meat with a tissue structure similar to that of real fish, and the final product also contains some plant-based ingredients. Like other cultured meats, Forsea Foods' eel meat is grown without the use of antibiotics or hormones.
Forsea Foods has received more than $5.2 million in investment, and its artificial eel meat is expected to be on the market in 2025 at a price of around $250 per kilogram, comparable to wild-caught eels.
Forsea Foods is collaborating with Katsuzo Kusumoto, chef of Tokyo's vegan restaurant Saido, to develop unagi dishes. Kusumoto says unagi has always been a favorite in Japan, but people are beginning to realize the importance of a more sustainable diet.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida also announced last year (2023) that in order to achieve a sustainable food supply, he would support the development of the cultured meat industry.
In addition to cultured eel, Wildtype in the US also touts its ability to culture "sushi-grade salmon." Steakholder Foods in Israel is cultivating grouper meat. Shiok Meats in Singapore is targeting shrimp, lobster, and crab. Cell4Food in Portugal is working on producing cultured octopus meat. Combined, this could create a bountiful feast of artificial seafood. While this may be a more sustainable option, consumer acceptance remains a key challenge.
References:
*The Guardian (January 22, 2024), Reinventing the eel: first lab-grown eel meat revealed
*Forsea Foods official website
*PR Times (January 22, 2024), Forsea Foodsが初の培養うなぎを発表
*The Spoon (May 9, 2023), Dispatches from Israel Food Tech Ecosystem: Roee Nir, CEO and Cofounder of Forsea
*PR Newswire (October 26, 2022), Forsea Attracts USD5.2M to Expand Cultivated Seafood, Without Harming Sea Life
*New Food (January 22, 2024), news Forsea develops its first cultured eel prototype
Source: Environmental Information Centre
