Swiss Food & Nutrition Valley and The Cultured Hub bring together experts and industry to accelerate cultured food to market

On 4th December 2024, Swiss Food & Nutrition Valley, together with Valley partner The Cultured Hub brought together Swiss and international experts to explore the state of the industry and discuss how to collaborate to capitalise on opportunities for growth.

The cultured meat market is estimated to grow at a rate of almost 52% a year from 2023 to 2030.^[1] Cultured food could offer consumers products that taste and feel like the animal-based original, with a reduced environmental and animal welfare impact^[2] and improved food security. Despite this potential, barriers to scaling remain.

Yesterday, The Cultured Hub – a newly launched state-of-the-art biotech facility and scale-up platform created by Migros, Givaudan, and Bühler Group – teamed up with Swiss Food & Nutrition Valley, to co-host an event to explore the state of the industry. State of Play: Cultured Foods 2.0 brought together Swiss and international experts to discuss how to collaborate to capitalise on opportunities for growth.

Creating the conditions: from policy to product

The event’s morning sessions set the stage with insights into Switzerland’s vision in this space, legal developments, and the global trends shaping the industry. Speakers included Yannick Gächter from The Cultured Hub, Ralph Langholz from the Swiss Protein Association, Carlotte Lucas from The Good Food Institute Europe and Illtud Dunsford, CEO and CoFounder of Cellular Agriculture Ltd, who collectively painted a comprehensive picture of the opportunities and challenges in the cultured food landscape.

“As one of the world’s most innovative nations, Switzerland is well positioned to play a key role in scaling cultured foods,” said Yannick Gächter, CEO of The Cultured Hub. “Our jointly developed facility embodies the collaborative spirit of the Swiss food ecosystem. By bringing together the right partners, our technology platform also enables startups to tap into centuries of experience in food processing, product development, production, marketing and market launches, allowing them to scale up faster and minimise capital investment.”

Innovative solutions to produce cultured foods at scale

In the afternoon, participants heard from Simona Fehlmann, CEO and Co-Founder of Swiss start-up sallea. Founded in November 2023 as a spin-off from leading Swiss university ETH Zurich, her team recently secured $2.6 million in a pre-seed round to support the development of its plant-based “scaffolds” for better texture and nutritional profiles in cultured meat products.

Commenting on their journey so far, Simona said, “Setting up in Switzerland has helped us to position as a leading scaffold provider for cellular agriculture. Switzerland is not only home to global companies like Nestlé, Bühler and Givaudan with a wealth of knowledge and expertise in the food sector, it also has a strong pool of talent, which is essential to any startup’s growth.”

Collaboration is at the heart of progress

The day ended with fascinating inputs from Christine Schäfer from the Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute about the role of consumer acceptance, and an inspiring keynote speech by Ira van Eelen, the daughter of Willem van Eelen, the “Godfather of cultured meat”.

Today, as Cofounder of RESPECTfarms and and Board Member of Cellulaire Agricultuur Nederland, Ira shared her experience of tasting cultured products all over the globe and how, through RESPECTfarms, she’s working in partnership with the Swiss Farmers’ Union to explore new business models that ensure benefits for stakeholders across the value chain.

Reflecting on the event, Swiss Food & Nutrition Valley CEO, Christina Senn-Jakobsen concluded: “Collaboration is at the heart of progress. By bringing the Swiss ecosystem together with leading international experts, we can better spot potential hurdles and find new ways to propel the cultured food industry forwards.”

About Swiss Food & Nutrition Valley

Swiss Food & Nutrition Valley (SFNV) is a not-for-profit association founded in 2020 that strengthens and promotes food system innovation, both within Switzerland and across the globe. Our diverse network of Valley partners – from global companies, universities, innovation accelerators to government bodies, SMEs and startups – collaborate to address the most pressing challenges in food, agriculture and nutrition, and co-create innovative solutions that drive better planetary and human health.

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About The Cultured Hub

The Cultured Hub collaborates with a global network of start-ups to find answers to the food industry’s most pressing questions and develop foods of the future. The Cultured Hub enables start-ups in the cultivated foods sector to reach industrial manufacturing more quickly and cost-effectively. The organization’s aim is to accelerate the development of sustainable proteins – specifically cultivated meat, fish, seafood, and precision fermentation products – by providing state-of-the-art scale-up facilities, cutting-edge technologies, expert guidance, and an extensive network.

www.theculturedhub.com

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