There are Plenty More Fish in the Lab

Episode 15

Carrie Chan – Avant Meats

“If there is a certain food, not just fish that is being picked by the Chinese consumer as something they like to have. If it is actually caught from the wild, it is going to be extinct in a very short period of time.”

Carrie Chan is CEO and Co-founder of Avant Meats, a cultivated meat technology company based in Hong Kong. Carrie is a seasoned business leader with a passion for the environment, particularly for the impact of our food supply on the planet. After two decades of experience in delivering major real estate developments, and after becoming vegan, she turned her business acumen and her purpose to finding a solution to saving the fish in our oceans. 

According to the World Bank, China is projected to be responsible for over a third of global seafood consumption by 2030. While the population of China is less than 20% of the global population. Seafood is an important source of animal protein for the country’s inhabitants, as well as of great cultural importance. While there has been a movement to sustainable fish farming, Carrie and her team do not think it is enough. With their product, they want to show it is possible to serve people sustainable meat and protein without slaughtering animals. 

Avant Meats is China’s only cell-based food company, but it is far from the only company in this space. Kindearth.tech have put together an overview of businesses exploring cell-based and plant-based meats with a new protein map. It seems that if it were up to business, these products would already be available on our supermarket shelves, but regulatory approval is still necessary to get there - with Singapore being the only country that has so far authorised cell-based chicken to be sold commercially. 

In this podcast, you can find out more about what it takes to build a business in a space where the product precedes an existing market; what cell-based production of meat is and how it could be an innovation that addresses a global fish stock problem, and how to attract funders and build a team, prototype a product that is trying to solve a global problem.

https://www.avantmeats.com

UN Sustainable Development Goal #2
Zero Hunger

SHOWNOTES

Overview of ‘cultivated meat’ protein

What is Avant Meats and how does it operate as a ‘cultivated meat’ company? {2:51}

Carrie Chan, Co-Founder and CEO speaks about fish consumption in China {4:10}

Carrie explains on the need for cell-based fish and how it can be a solution to over-fishing and fish extinction. {5:09}

Carrie explains the process of growing fish in a lab and how to feed the cell with the right nutrients, until you can obtain a fish filet/fish cake. {8:29}

When questioned on consumers’ awareness/biases, Carrie contrasts the difference between cloning and genetic modification versus lab grown fish using cell technology. {11:42}

The future vision of Avant Meats and how they align with the SDGs

Speaking about the future of Avant Meats, Carrie explains the vision to set up plants in different locations of the world to produce fish on demand. {15:09}

Carrie highlights the unique value proposition of Avant Meats and what makes them different from their competitors, for example having a clear understanding of the taste profile of their audience. {18:40}

How is the current use of resources in producing meat not efficient, and how can we manage resources in a more responsible way. {20:51}

The ingredients to building a team with the right mindset

Carrie shares the story of finding Mario Chin, the other co-founder, and how she ran an advertisement for employment to find him {26:10}

In order to join onto the mission of Avant Meats, Carrie elaborates on the mindset and interest of potential job-seekers to find sustainable solutions to the environment. {31:02}

Touching upon the importance of ethics, Carrie points out the challenges faced from people who do not see unethical treatment of animals as unethical {32:35}

When questioned on the importance of diversity in the workplace, Carrie’s opinion is that in a rapidly changing business world, having people from different cultural backgrounds is key not to become irrelevant {40:32}

CONNECT WITH CARRIE CHAN

Website│LinkedIN

SELECTED LINKS FROM THE EPISODE

Mario Chin – Co Founder of Avant Meats│LinkedIN

Avant Meats Raises US$3.1M to bring cultivated fish to market in 2021

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