Hot Right Now: Shiok Meats' 2023 commercial plans, alternative protein in APAC, upcycled soy cheese and more feature in our round-up
Big stride: Shiok Meats confirms 2023 commercial launch plans as cultivated shrimp reaches US$50/kg milestone
Cultivated seafood pioneer Shiok Meats has revealed that its production costs have now dropped to the coveted US$50/kg milestone, bringing it even closer to realising its commercial launch plans by the end of 2023.
When we last discussed cultivated shrimp pricing with Shiok Meats’ Group Co-Founder and CEO Sandhya Sriram back in 2020, the price per kilogramme was hovering at around US$7,000 – demonstrating the enormous progress the firm has made over the last two years.
“This US$50/kg milestone is really a big milestone and a huge win for us compared to the US$10,000 or US$5,000 that we were at previously, it’s a huge update we’re very proud to be sharing with the industry,” Sriram told FoodNavigator-Asia.
'Meat is not the enemy': Why the plant-based sector might not be the future of protein – Growth Asia Summit
One of Australia’s leading nutrition experts and senior CEOs will be making the case for meat at our forthcoming Growth Asia Summit, in the wake of an explosion of interest in the plant-based protein sector.
Nathan Cheong, CEO at Melrose Health, will take the stage to challenge the notion that ‘meat is the enemy’ at the three day event, which will take place at the iconic Marina Bay Sands venue in Singapore from 11-13 October.
Soy by-product: Okara could be upcycled into plant-based cheese by Singapore partnership
A Singapore food partnership is aiming to upcycle the soy by-product okara into plant-based cheese products using proprietary technology.
Hafnium Ventures and RP signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) recently, with the former injecting a seed capital of SG$200,000 (US$144,000) towards the initiative.
Partner and Executive Director at Hafnium Hafaway, Francis Tan, said soy cheese is in a unique position within the fast-evolving alternative protein space worldwide. According to Tan, the vegan dairy market is estimated to be worth US$2.5bn in 2022, with a CAGR of 12.6% leading to 2030.
Clear and present labels: Thailand mandates GMO declarations in latest food labelling regulatory update
The Thai government has announced several updates to the national food labelling regulations with food firms required to declare any use of genetically modified ingredients on food labels.
Previously, Thailand did not have specific regulations in place to govern the labelling of genetically modified ingredients on food product packages, but recently the Thai Ministry of Public Health announced that all food manufacturers handling GM products must now declare their use of these on their labels.
“The clear statement ‘genetically modified’ must be declared alongside the food name on the label if the product contains only one ingredient, and if it uses multiple such ingredients these must also be clearly declared accordingly alongside each ingredient,” Thailand Deputy Minister of Public Health Dr Satit Pitutecha said via a formal statement.
China COVID-19 updates: 'Low-risk’ food imports that test positive for virus allowed, but frozen items still in the cold
China has relaxed entry rules for ‘low risk’ food and beverage imports that ‘test positive’ for COVID-19, citing the virus’ short survival time on packaging surfaces.
More than two years after the COVID-19 virus first emerged in Wuhan, China back in December 2019, it seems the government is finally moving to relax these import regulations for foods and beverages - possibly signalling its intent to get its international trade back on track – but cold-chain items are unfortunately not part of this relaxation.
“Recent research has shown that under normal temperature conditions, COVID-19 has a short survival time on the surface of most items and is completely inactivated within one day,” China’s State Council Comprehensive Team of COVID-19 Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism stated via a formal statement.
