Cell-cultivated seafood innovator Forsea struck a major breakthrough in making freshwater eel farming a viable commercial reality. The start-up announced its organoid technology reached a record-breaking cell density of more than 300 million cells/ml and with minimal and precise use of cultured media ingredients.
This is the highest cell density recorded in the field, moving Forsea to the forefront of cultured seafood production efficiency. The landmark technology allows for a scalable and highly cost-effective supply for the hugely popular traditional Japanese delicacy, eel (unagi) whose availability has been significantly hampered by overfishing and the destruction of aquatic ecosystems.
Forsea is currently focusing on manufacturing cultured freshwater eel due to the immense market potential, particularly in Japan. As the world’s largest consumer of eel, Japan recorded sales of 140,000 tons in 2023—50% of total global sales. Freshwater eel is endangered and cannot be commercially bred in captivity. Demand for eel far surpasses the industry’s current supply capabilities, translating to skyrocketing prices.
Setting a new standard for “blue ocean” initiatives, Forsea created a new approach to cell cultivating fish tissues outside of their native water habitats via organoid technology. Forsea’s patent-protected platform involves creating the ideal environment for animal cells to spontaneously assemble into three-dimensional tissue structures with their natural composition of fat, muscle and connective tissue.
This method not only echoes the natural growth process of these tissues in a living animal, giving it a closer-to-nature edge, it bypasses the scaffolding stage and is dramatically less dependent on expensive growth factors. This makes the process highly affordable and positions its cell-grown version to price parity (or potentially lower) with traditional aquafarmed eel, a key challenge the cell-based industry was desperate to overcome.
“The breakthrough to this level of cell density highlights the strength of our organoid technology,” said Moria Shimoni, CTO of Forsea. “It’s a validation of our approach to high-efficiency cultivation of seafood to meet both economic and sustainability goals at scale.”
After completing its proof-of-concept continuous harvesting process, Forsea reports it is ready to take production of its cultured fish products to the next phase of commercial scale-up.
“Forsea’s organoid technology requires less capital expenditure than other technologies,” said Roee Nir, founder and CEO of Forsea. “Achieving this level of cell density with minimal resources will translate to substantial reductions in the unit of economics and will bring cultured seafood production to a cost that is actually below the traditional market price. This is major milestone for Forsea and validates our vision of making sustainable, high-quality seafood affordable and widely accessible. It also sets a powerful precedent for scaling other cultured seafood products and establishing sustainable alternative supply chains for ecologically sensitive species.”
Forsea’s cell-cultured eel is expected to ease the strain on the world’s eel populations and reduce environmental impact of traditional eel farming. This encompasses reducing global warming potential, water consumption, and land use and alleviated pressure on marine ecosystems by focusing on endangered species.
About Forsea
Forsea was founded by biotech engineer Roee Nir, MBA; Moria Shimoni, PhD; Iftach Nachman, PhD; and Yaniv Elkouby, PhD with support from the Israeli Innovation Authority (IIA) and The Kitchen Hub. It has garnered seed backing from Target Global, PeakBridge VC, Future Food Fund, Zora Ventures, FoodHack, and M&H Ventures. Forsea’s organoid approach to cultivating fish tissue involves creating an ideal environment for fish cells to spontaneously form their natural composition of native fat and muscle. They grow as a three-dimensional tissue structure, just as in nature.
