China launches first caged meat plant

According to CellX co-founder and CEO Yang Ziliang, a 2,000-litre bioreactor has been installed at the Shanghai plant, capable of producing no more than 10 tons of cultured MEAT per year. The company's immediate plans include an increase in the number of bioreactors, and by 2025 it is planned to create a full-fledged commercial production.

“The experience gained from the operation of this pilot facility will be further used in commercial production, which we plan to establish by 2025 and which will produce hundreds of tons of products per year,” said Yang Ziliang.

The pilot facility will help bring CellX's production costs down to below $100 per pound (0.45 kg), allowing it to compete with premium meats, he said . In addition, the company hopes that the launch of a commercial manufacturing facility in 2025 will help further reduce production costs.

Later this year, CellX plans to apply to the relevant authorities in the US and Singapore for approval to market its products, and plans to expand to other international markets in 2025. 

As the newspaper writes, ensuring food security for the country's 1.4 billion people is one of the priority areas in the development of China's strategy to reduce dependence on imports. In May 2022, the country's authorities supported the development of a synthetic protein as part of the fourteenth five-year plan for the development of the bioeconomy.