From Lab to Plate: The Future of Cell-Based Seafood

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As Alex sat down at the Umi no Sushiya sushi bar, he encountered a surprising addition to the menu: lab-grown salmon sushi. Intrigued by the idea of sustainable seafood, Alex decided to give it a try.

With each bite, a world of flavor unfolded before his taste buds. But despite the exquisite taste, his mind started racing with questions. How is lab-grown seafood produced? Is it safe to eat? Is it healthy? What environmental impact does it have? Alex’s curiosity led to his own research, giving him greater insight into the production process and the pros and cons of consuming lab-grown seafood.

While this scenario is fictional, pending future advancements and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval, cell-based seafood may be coming to restaurants and marketplaces in the near future.

This may happen sooner than we think since U.S. regulators just approved the nation’s first lab-grown meat for sale—chicken products grown from animal cells.

What Is Cell-Based Seafood?

Cell-based products are an emerging area of food science where cells are taken from animals and grown in a controlled environment to create food made from cultured animal cells.

According to the FDA, cell-based foods are produced in four steps:

1. A sample of cells is taken from an animal’s tissue and used to grow a cell “bank” for future use.
2. Cells are taken from the bank, placed in a controlled environment, and given necessary nutrients and other factors for growth.
3. The cells continue to multiply many times over (into trillions of cells) and are provided with additional substances to create different cell types, including fat, muscle, and connective tissue.
4. Once the cells have differentiated into the specific cell types desired, the cellular material is harvested and prepared through conventional food processing and packaging.

In the United States, a handful of cell-based seafood companies are attempting to create fresh fish species. Wildtype, Finless Foods, and BlueNalu are some of the global manufacturers of cell-based tuna and salmon products. While currently produced on a small scale, large-scale and cost-effective production methods remain to be determined.

“Industry professionals are still trying to figure out how to scale cell-based seafood products to commercial production,” Adriana Sanchez, founder of Seafood Ninja, a seafood sustainability strategy company, told The Epoch Times.

Sanchez believes that the demand for more ethical, clean, and healthier products is on the rise as consumers are becoming more conscious of where their food comes from, how it’s produced, and its impact on the environment.

“At the end of the day, consumers want to make sure that the products they consume are safe and responsible,” said Sanchez.

Competing in the Sustainable Seafood Market

U.S. fisheries are considered a global leader in sustainable seafood, according to the National Ocean and Atmospheric Association (NOAA). They assess fish stocks, set catch limits, and ensure compliance under the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the primary law governing U.S. marine fisheries management.

Fish species in international waters do not have the same protection efforts as those in the United States. Lianne Won-Reburn, an online marketing manager for Marshallberg Farm, a sustainable sturgeon farm in North Carolina, told The Epoch Times, “There are 27 species of sturgeon worldwide; most of them are critically endangered. One from China is officially extinct from overfishing.”

The demand for luxury products worldwide can result in the overfishing of desirable species, such as the Russian sturgeon or the Pacific bluefin tuna. Farming methods allow for the cultivation of these species, which in turn reduces pressure on aquatic ecosystems. However, the waiting period for fish to mature in order to be harvested can take several years.

Growing seafood in a lab doesn’t require the long wait time of farming fish. According to Wildtype’s website, growing sushi-grade salmon takes about four to six weeks, which is significantly faster than the natural maturation of live salmon. Because the cultured cells can grow indefinitely, Wildtype claims they can produce millions of pounds of seafood without using another fish.

While lab-grown seafood is pitched as a sustainable solution, studies have shown that lab-grown beef is actually significantly less eco-friendly than livestock production. This is largely due to the nutrient material used to grow the cells.

Although fish and shellfish cells have different requirements for growth, there is no information as to whether lab-grown seafood has a similar negative environmental impact as lab-grown beef. In addition to environmental impact, there are other major concerns about lab-grown seafood.

Lab-Grown, Cell-Based Seafood Concerns

Lab-grown products have received mixed reviews and perceptions worldwide. How these products are labeled, and their safety, nutritional value, and cost all have an impact on how the products are perceived by consumers.

Safety

Lab-grown seafood may offer consumers a way to avoid ingesting heavy metals, such as mercury. Heavy metal content varies across fish species and depends on the source: wild-caught, commercial, or farmed.

“People are concerned by the levels of mercury found in bluefin, people are concerned about the plastics found in bluefin, and people are concerned about the environmental impact of eating a species that’s been on and off the threatened species list that currently cannot be farmed economically at scale,” explained Michael Selden, CEO and co-founder of Finless Foods, in a recent interview with “In the Know.”

Exposure to heavy metals such as mercury can negatively affect the nervous, cardiovascular, and renal systems. Pregnant women, nursing mothers, and young children are particularly vulnerable to heavy metal toxicity.

Because lab-grown seafood does not require feeding smaller fish to larger predatory fish, producers of cell-based products claim they are free of mercury, in addition to parasites and bacteria.

Due to production requirements, cell-based products can potentially reduce the likelihood of contracting a foodborne illness (pdf). However, ensuring a sterile environment, especially for industrial production, remains a challenge for cell-based foods.

Until lab-grown seafood is proven to be safe and adequate regulatory standards exist, many consumers will be reluctant to eat it.

Nutrition

Despite the innovation of lab-grown seafood, consumers remain skeptical about its nutritional content.

While information is not available regarding the macro- and micronutrient breakdown, Wildtype’s lab-grown salmon claims it’s “nutritionally equivalent to wild salmon in omega-3 and omega-6 fats,” yet also notes, “it’s still a work in progress, and we’ll have many opportunities for improvement over the years to come.”

Achieving nutritional comparability, particularly when it comes to protein, healthy fats, and micronutrients, is a key product development goal for cell-based seafood companies. Without comparable nutritional benefits, consumers are less likely to opt for a lab-grown alternative.

Labeling

Consumers are concerned about labeling and want to know (pdf) exactly what they’re purchasing.

Labeling of human food products derived from cultured cells must be pre-approved and verified by inspection, as required by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service. However, some questions remain; for example, what terminology would be used to alert consumers that a product is cell-based?

Cost

Cost remains a barrier to the large-scale production of cell-based seafood.

Aryé Elfenbein, the co-founder of Wildtype, stated in an interview with “Insider Science“ that “a couple of pieces of nigiri these days would probably cost 40 to 50 bucks, ballpark,” referring to the production cost of his company’s cell-based salmon.

In a recent consumer acceptance study from the Netherlands, 58 percent of participants indicated they were willing to pay a 37 percent premium for cell-based beef compared to conventional animal-based beef. Whether this sentiment would also apply to lab-grown seafood and to U.S. consumers is to be determined.

Is Lab-Grown Seafood the Future of Fish?

Sanchez explained that part of the drive behind lab-grown seafood comes from people who believe we shouldn’t fish. “Cell-based seafood products provide an opportunity for those people to consume seafood that doesn’t come from fishing the oceans.”

Although the World Economic Forum is challenging the idea of “sustainable seafood” with an intent to move people away from eating both wild and farmed fish while advocating for a vegan diet, it may be a hard sell.

“I think for most people, they would rather have the real thing. I don’t consider [lab-grown] competition because I would consider it a different product,” said Won-Reburn.

In agreement with Won-Reburn, Adam Pritts, a third-generation trout farmer at Laurel Hill Trout Farm in Pennsylvania, told The Epoch Times, “If anything, it will be an adjacent practice. I don’t see it being popular with consumers or getting to an economically viable stage.”

Currently, lab-grown seafood is being pitched for its use in sushi, due to the experimental environment that sushi bars provide for curious eaters. However, no information is available as to how lab-grown seafood products stand up to traditional cooking methods. We do not yet know if these products will even hold up to their natural counterparts while under the flame.

When it comes to sustainability, safety, and value, consumers can make conscious choices when purchasing wild and farmed seafood. Supporting American fish farms and choosing sustainable wild seafood are important ways to reduce the strain on wild fish populations in oceans, lakes, and rivers.

Although the future of lab-grown seafood depends partly on the evolution of conventional fishing and farmed seafood sustainability, until factors such as safety, nutritional value, and cost are resolved, the market for seafood produced from fish cells remains uncertain.