China has taken a significant step towards revolutionizing its food industry with the launch of its first alternative protein centre.
Located in the China Meat Food Comprehensive Research Center in Beijing, this cutting-edge hub has been established with an impressive ¥80M ($10.9M) investment, courtesy of a joint effort between the local Fengtai District government and meat processor Shounong Food Group.
The centre aims to integrate resources, promote academia, research, and industry development, and create a future food cluster.
As stated by Cui Xulong, Fengtai District’s deputy mayor, “The New Protein Food Science and Technology Innovation Base will help transform laboratory results into engineering and industrialisation, laying a solid foundation for the commercialisation of cell-cultured meat”.
This innovative centre boasts a state-of-the-art R&D platform and lab for novel foods like cultivated meat. Currently, it features a 200-litre cell line for cultivated meat and a 2,000-litre production line for microbial protein.
Plans are underway to expand its capabilities with two additional 2,000-litre cell culture lines and three microbial protein pilot lines.
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As China’s first national-level tech innovation platform for cultivated meat, this centre is poised to bring “unlimited possibilities” to the industry’s development.
Its primary focus areas will include cell engineering and synthetic biology, leveraging breakthrough tech research, engineering applications, and an industrial innovation ecosystem.
The centre’s opening ceremony showcased an array of innovative products, including microbial protein bars, microbe-fermented tofu meat, and cultivated marbled steak.
Fengtai District has emerged as a biomanufacturing leader in the future food industry, with plans to establish a platform for real-time monitoring and traceability of the entire food production chain using AI and blockchain technologies.
