Extract from Top stories in Cultivated Meat – October 2025

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For once, the cultivated meat world took a quiet breath. Perhaps the industry was just saving its energy for the wave of mergers, product launches, and approvals that followed.

Fork & Good kicked things off in dramatic fashion with its acquisition of Orbillion Bio, creating what it claims is now the largest intellectual property portfolio in the sector. The new entity will focus on scaling pork and beef cell cultivation, with a reach that spans North America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East a geographic range as ambitious as the merger itself.

Across the Atlantic, France’s Gourmey and Vital Meat joined forces to form Parima, a newly forged cultivated poultry powerhouse. The merger unites Gourmey’s refined foie gras expertise with Vital Meat’s large-scale bioreactor capacity and avian cell line experience, marking a strategic consolidation aimed squarely at scaling production.

Meanwhile, regulatory doors continued to open. Believer Meats, based in Israel, became the first non-US startup to receive full USDA approval to sell cultivated chicken in the United States.

Australia’s Vow also made waves, but closer to the dinner table. The company launched its first at-home cultivated product: a Smoked Quail Spread under its Forged brand. Available only in Sydney for now, this buttery, quail-based treat represents a significant step toward bringing cultivated meat into consumers’ kitchens rather than just restaurants or tasting events.

And in California, Mission Barns announced a first of its own : the world’s first retail sale of cultivated meat. Starting November 1, Berkeley Bowl shoppers can purchase the company’s cultivated Italian-style pork meatballs for $13.99 a pack, marking the first time American consumers can buy cultivated meat in an ordinary grocery aisle.

Not to be left out, the Netherlands’ NIZO unveiled plans to transform its Ede site into a new Food Innovation Park for Sustainable Proteins, a collaborative hub where start-ups, corporates, and research institutions will co-develop solutions for the protein transition.

Europe’s agrifood ecosystem continued to mature with a new alliance between accelerator StartLife and innovation platform EIT Food. The partnership opens a lucrative funding pipeline (up to €1.5 million per start-up) to accelerate Europe’s most promising agrifood ventures.

At the Demonstrating Scale-Up in Cultivated Food conference in Penang, industry leaders outlined the next frontier for cultivated proteins: scaling innovation into industry. Speakers emphasized five interconnected challenges underscoring that the race to cost parity will define who thrives in the coming industrial era of cultivated food.

Two studies this month shone light on very different, yet complementary, sides of the cultivated meat ecosystem. A review published in npj Science of Food surveyed the growing field of non-animal scaffolds for cultured meat ( from plant polymers to fungi-derived structures) all key to creating texture and structure without relying on animal inputs. This progress points toward a more ethical and fully animal-free future for cultivated meat production.

Meanwhile, a comparative study on young consumers in Japan and China revealed telling insights into attitudes toward alternative proteins. Chinese respondents showed higher familiarity and consumption rates, particularly for plant-based products, while Japanese participants perceived them primarily as health-oriented processed foods. The results suggest that cultural perceptions may determine the pace of acceptance across Asia.

In the alternative protein world, precision fermentation took a major leap forward. Vivici and The Every Company, with support from the Abu Dhabi Investment Office, announced plans for a 4-million-liter industrial-scale facility in the UAE. This massive collaboration will anchor the region’s AgriFood Growth and Water Abundance cluster, signaling the Middle East’s growing ambition to become a hub for next-gen food production.

Elsewhere, plant-based meats faced a more sobering reality. Sales in the United States continued to tumble amid a resurgent, politically charged pro-meat movement. Once-darling brands like Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods are struggling to hold ground as cultural and economic headwinds batter the sector. As one analyst put it bluntly: “It’s not our moment.”

Still, the microbial world marches on. Lallemand Specialty Cultures inaugurated a 400-square-meter R&D lab in Rennes, France, dedicated to the formulation of microorganism-based food solutions. Housing over 2,000 bacterial, yeast, and mold strains, the lab will focus on next-generation cultures for food fermentation, a foundational step in the evolving landscape of sustainable protein innovation.

See you next month!

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