In this episode of Protein Production Technology International, Sam Van De Velde, co-founder and CEO of Fishway, shares his unconventional journey from finance to the cultivated seafood sector. Sam discusses the founding of Fishway, the challenges of securing patient investors, and assembling a skilled team to drive innovation in cultivated fish biomass production. He highlights the environmental urgency caused by overfishing, the declining health of global fisheries, and how cultivated seafood can help meet rising demand sustainably. Sam explains Fishway’s focus on producing high-quality cell biomass rather than structured products, emphasizing energy efficiency, simple bioreactor design, and robust fish cell lines with impressive doubling capabilities. He also touches on regulatory challenges, the need for collaboration across the sector, and the importance of balancing cost, sustainability, and health benefits to ensure cultivated seafood becomes a viable and accessible alternative in the future.

In this episode of Protein Production Technology International, Jeff Tripician, CEO of a leading cultivated meat company, shares how his decades in the conventional meat industry shaped his belief in the potential for cultivated meat to complement traditional meat production. Trip highlights how the growing global population, strained natural resources, and climate challenges make alternative protein sources essential. He emphasizes that cultivated meat isn’t meant to replace farmers, but to offer the industry an additional, sustainable raw material option. He explains how rapid advancements in cell cultivation technology are reducing production times and costs, moving the industry closer to price parity with conventional meat. Trip also stresses the importance of working with established meat companies and leveraging their expertise to bring cultivated meat into mainstream products. With global food security concerns rising, Trip sees cultivated meat as a vital tool for ensuring future generations have reliable, sustainable protein sources.

In this episode of Protein Production Technology International, Adam Tarshis, CEO of Mozza Foods, discusses how the company is using molecular farming to produce real dairy proteins—without the need for cows. By engineering soybeans to produce casein, Mozza Foods aims to deliver animal-free dairy ingredients with the same taste and functionality as traditional dairy, but with far lower environmental impact. Adam explains why soybeans were chosen, how their proteins are extracted using standard dairy processes, and how molecular farming could enable cost parity with conventional dairy. He also highlights the scalability advantages of plant-based production and shares insights on regulatory progress, partnerships with major food manufacturers, and the company’s path toward commercial-scale production. Finally, Adam shares his excitement for future consumer taste tests, where plant-based dairy could finally match traditional products without compromise.