Daesang Signs Business Agreement with 'SpaceF' on Cultured Meat and Media Business

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] On the 18th, comprehensive food company Daesang announced that it has signed a strategic partnership agreement with Space F, a leading cultured meat company, for cultured meat and cell culture media business.

Through this business agreement, the two companies plan to establish the foundation for mass production of cultured meat and, based on this, secure a leading position in the domestic and international cultured meat markets with high growth potential. They intend to combine Daesang's global sales network and media raw material production technology with Space F's cell culture technology to secure market competitiveness.

Cultured meat is the only animal-based alternative protein recently spotlighted as a future food. It is artificial meat produced by culturing animal cells using cell engineering technology without a separate slaughtering process. Compared to conventional meat, it is considered an eco-friendly technology as it can reduce greenhouse gas emissions and water consumption. It also addresses animal ethics issues such as factory farming and slaughter.

Global consulting firm McKinsey predicted in a report published last July that the cultured meat market will grow to about $25 billion by 2030. In December last year, cultured meat products were approved for sale for the first time in Singapore.

According to the business agreement, Daesang and Space F will introduce mass culture facilities for large-scale production of cultured meat and cooperate to establish the culture process and commercialize products by 2025. They also plan to conduct research to solve the high cost issue, one of the drawbacks of cultured meat, and to replace cultured meat media raw materials with food-grade materials.

The two companies are already conducting joint research as part of the second phase of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy's industrial technology innovation project, "Alchemist Project Artificial Eco Food," together with stem cell and meat science researchers from Seoul National University and the Functional Food Research Lab of the Department of Food and Biotechnology at Sejong University. This agreement is expected not only to pioneer the advanced bio market and produce tangible results but also to serve as a successful cooperation model among large corporations, venture companies, and academia-industry collaboration.

Jungbae Lim, CEO of Daesang, said, "Through cooperation with venture companies possessing innovative technology development capabilities, we will strengthen competitiveness in the domestic and international cultured meat markets and contribute to the realization of ESG (environmental, social, and governance) management from a long-term perspective." He added, "We will take the lead in technology development for the commercialization of cultured meat products through this agreement."

Meanwhile, in June, Daesang signed a business agreement with Excel Therapeutics, a serum-free media specialist company. They have been conducting research to reduce manufacturing costs and secure stability of cultured meat media by applying Daesang's global sales network and bio-material business capabilities to Excel Therapeutics' serum-free media manufacturing technology.

Space F is a company researching animal protein alternative food materials and holds patents and core technologies essential for cultured meat production, such as muscle stem cell isolation and culture, muscle tissue formation, and serum-free media development. In March, together with research teams from Seoul National University and Sejong University, they developed the first cultured pork prototype in Korea.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.