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Cultivated meat brings to mind different associations for everyone, but one thing is clear: it isn’t science fiction anymore. It’s here, it’s now. At the close of 2020, after a year ravaged by one of the worst zoonotic disease outbreaks we’ve ever seen, Singapore became the first country in the world to approve the commercial sale of cultivated chicken bites. But we still have a long way to go when it comes to increasing investment in R&D and driving down the cost of producing cultivated meat.
Luckily, competitions like the XPRIZE Feed the Next Billion are designed to do exactly that. If you’ve been listening to previous episodes, you will recall that the prize offers $15 million to finalists who come up with innovative solutions to combat challenges within the smart protein ecosystem..

To go a step beyond and understand what exactly we need from a technological standpoint when it comes to building a viable future for cultivated meat, our host, Varun Deshpande, sits down with Dr. Kate Krueger. The founder of Helikon Consulting and a technical expert for XPRIZE, Kate tells us about her pioneering work around advancing cellular agriculture, making smart protein accessible — particularly in the developing world — and her hopes for the impact that the XPRIZE’s diverse participants can have on our food systems.

Resources for further reading:

XPRIZE Feed the Next Billion and the competition’s semifinalists

(https://www.xprize.org/prizes/feedthenextbillion)

(https://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/Article/2021/07/14/XPRIZE-unveils-semi-finalists-in-15m-global-Feed-the-Next-Billion-competition)

Eat Just’s mission to serve up cultivated chicken in Singapore

(https://thespoon.tech/eat-just-makes-the-worlds-first-sale-of-cultured-meat/)

The science behind cultivated meat and the impact it has on the environment

(https://gfi.org/science/the-science-of-cultivated-meat/#:~:text=Cultivated%20meat%2C%20also%20known%20as,and%20farm%20animals%20for%20food.)

(https://www.greenqueen.com.hk/cultivated-meat-has-92-lower-climate-impact-will-reach-price-parity-by-2030-says-new-research/)

McKinsey’s report on cultivated meat, highlighting consumer insights and industry concerns

(https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/agriculture/our-insights/cultivated-meat-out-of-the-lab-into-the-frying-pan)

Follow Kate:

Twitter: twitter.com/KateKruegerPhD

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/ktkrueger