Aleph Farms, Mitsubishi Corp to launch cultivated meat in Japan

Collaboration to bring cultivated meat to Japan will help the country meet food security goals

Israel based Aleph Farms, Ltd., and Mitsubishi Corporation’s Food Industry Group have recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to bring cultivated meat to the Japanese table. Aleph Farms will provide its proven, scalable manufacturing platform (BioFarm) for the cultivation of whole-muscle steaks. Mitsubishi Corporation will provide its expertise in biotechnology processes, branded food manufacturing, and local distribution channels in Japan.

Mitsubishi Corporation is a globally integrated business enterprise that develops and operates a global network of 1,700 group companies in 90 countries.

This cooperation takes a lead role in the fight against climate change, especially now that the Japanese government stipulated a goal of achieving zero greenhouse gas emissions. As the demand for meat continues to rise with evolving lifestyles, the cooperation will also provide actionable solutions to overcome the societal challenges to the local population surrounding the domestic meat supply. This includes implementing stable food channels of quality nutrition.

Aleph Farms and Mitsubishi Corporation are members of the “Cellular Agriculture Study Group”, a consortium implementing policy proposals under the Japanese Center for Rule-Making Strategy. The consortium brings together a range of experts on the definition and construction of cellular agricultural foods. It also adds clarification of conditions for Japanese products and technologies to have international competitiveness and establishes mechanisms for coexistence and division of roles with existing industries.