World’s First Cell-Based Crab Meat Unveiled In Asia

Singapore-based Shiok Meats have unveiled the first-of-its-kind product as part of a crab cake and chilli crab.

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Shiok Meats’ Crab Cake and Chilli Crab, pictured with Lobster-flavored Potato Chips and Tom Yum Shrimp Soup - all made using cell-based seafood. Credit: Shiok Meats

The world’s first cell-based crab meat has been unveiled at a tasting event in Asia.

Singapore-based Shiok Meats, are the world’s first cell-based crustacean meat company, and launched a cell-based shrimp prototype back in 2019.

Now, the company has offered diners at an exclusive tasting event the taste of a ‘sustainable seafood future’, with the unveiling of their new cell-based crab meat.

Shiok Crab was showcased to diners as part of two Singaporean favourites - Crab Cakes and Chilli Crab. The dishes were complemented with lobster-flavored potato chips and Tom Yum shrimp soup - both prepared with Shiok Meats’ cell-based meats. 

Shiok Meats’ co-founders Dr. Sandhya Sriram and Dr. Ka Yi Ling.

Also known as lab-grown or cultured seafood, cell-based seafood is one of the leading solutions to help protect the world’s oceans, and can help reduce environmentally-destructive practices like overfishing and offshore fish farms.

The world has a little longer to wait until a bigger roll-out of cell-based crustacean meat though, with Shiok Meats aiming to release their products in 2023, starting with Shiok Shrimp. 

“Our mission is to develop cell-based crustacean meats that are contributing towards a cleaner and healthier seafood industry and solving for the inefficiencies around global protein production” explained Shiok Meats’ co-founders. 

The Future of Food

Cell-based seafood is just the latest exciting development in the race to replace our current food system - one that requires the farming and slaughter of millions of land and sea animals every day - with a kinder, and more sustainable option.

And it’s easy to see how alternative proteins are already beginning to transform the industry: national seafood chain Long John Silver’s just launched fish-free fillets and plant-based ‘crab’ cakes last month, while meat giant McDonald’s recently announced its first vegan burger, dubbed the McPlant. And TIME magazine named plant-based Impossible Pork as one of ‘The Best Inventions of 2020’.   

For more on the future of food, and how lab-grown meat could help save billions of animals from factory farms, listen to our podcast episode with James Arbib: Rethinking Humanity.

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