Cultivated eel on the menu in Israel as Forsea Foods eyes 2026 rollout

05 Jun 2024 --- Israeli start-up Forsea Foods hosted a tasting event this week for its cultivated unagi in Tel Aviv in line with its plans to launch the eel meat in Japan by 2026.

Investors and government representatives gathered at Japanese restaurant A, where the company showcased three unique dishes featuring its cultivated freshwater eel as the centerpiece, almost five months after it debuted its initial prototype.

The menu showcased unagi kabayaki, a traditional Japanese dish featuring a grilled eel filet on a bed of rice. Yuval Ben Neriah, head chef and owner of A and Katsumi Kusumoto, owner of Tokyo vegan restaurant Saido, prepared the dish.

“This project with Forsea has been particularly exciting as it marks my first venture into future food and the world of cell-cultured seafood and its resonating sustainability message,” says Ben Neriah. 

As a result, Forsea Foods plans to hold further tasting events outside Israel later this year in preparation for regulatory applications and an upcoming market launch.

A cost challenge
Forsea Foods’ patented method for cultivated seafood uses “organoid technology” to create 3D microtissues comprising fat, muscle and connective tissues, which can mimic the functions and structure of organs. 

These differentiate into edible cells, replicating the natural process of cell formation. The cell lines can self-organize into tissue structures without scaffold support, simplifying the production process, easing supply chain bottlenecks for eel meat and enhancing the potential for scalability. 

The eel presented in Forsea Foods’ tasting also contained plants. (Credit: Liran Maimon)By significantly reducing the reliance on growth factors, Forsea Foods can produce cultivated eel in an efficient and cost-effective manner.

Eel has always been a luxury seafood product, garnering wholesale prices between US$40 and US$60 per kg in Japan (which consumes over 70% of all eel catch). But overfishing, poaching, illegal trading, breeding troubles and pollution have ravaged supplies of the species, with consumption declining from about 160,000 metric tons in 2000 to just over 60,000 metric tons in 2021 in Japan.

This has made eel a critically endangered species and as demand doesn’t seem to be slowing down, it could become more expensive.

Heightened costs have led to most cultivated meat products in the market or public tastings actually being hybrids of plant-based ingredients and cultivated cells. This helps lower costs and makes them commercially viable. 

Earlier this year, Steakholder Foods introduced its plant-based, 3D-printed eel. The imitation delicacy was crafted from plant ingredients, with the company planning to incorporate cultivated eel cells in future product iterations as economies of scale make cell development cost-effective. 

Cultivated unagi by 2026?
Takahashi Seiichiro, Japan’s deputy chief of mission to Israel, was among the 40 attendees of Forsea Foods’ tasting event. 

“While the Japanese have been eating eel for more than 5,000 years, we understand that cultivating eel is no simple task. I believe that introducing the first cell-cultured eel is the accomplished result of great comprehensive corporate efforts,” he said. 

Forsea Foods is developing relationships with strategic partnerships in Japan as it targets a commercial debut of its cultivated eel in 2026. 

Saido — the restaurant that already serves a vegan version of eel — has previously indicated its intention to offer cultivated unagi once regulatory approval is granted. 

Japan is among the countries advancing regulatory progress for novel foods. 

In April, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (which will continue to oversee food safety) transferred its food hygiene standards division to the Consumer Affairs Agency. Companies now must liaise with two agencies on regulatory conversations, but this puts the ultimate responsibility in prime minister Fumio Kishida’s hands.Forty attendees visited Forsea Foods’ tasting event in Tel Aviv. (Credit: Liran Maimon)

“The Japanese regulatory process establishment is being drafted and that takes time. However, there is a strong backwind from the government to promote this industry,” Nir says, pointing to Kishida’s previous comment calling cellular agriculture an important part of “realizing a sustainable food supply.”

“Our assumption is that cultivated meat will be approved, if not late 2025, in early 2026,” says co-founder and CEO of Forsea Foods Roee Nir.

Forsea Foods is working to scale up its process and is confident about the price equation, with Nir suggesting that its technology will allow it to bring costs below price parity once it reaches larger production levels.

Edited by Elizabeth Green