8 ms·

Can you speak to the cost? The WSJ article says it currently costs $9,000 per pound to produce the "clean meat". Does that mean you ate something like a $900 ch

Can you speak to the cost? The WSJ article says it currently costs $9,000 per pound to produce the "clean meat". Does that mean you ate something like a $900 chicken? (Assuming you had a small sample)

sethbannon 10y ago
The costs are still too high for commercial viability but they're dropping rapidly. In 2013, the first cultured burger cost $330,000 to make. Just under a year ago, Memphis Meats was at $18,000/lb of clean beef produced. Now they're at $9,000/lb. This is before any sort of efficiencies from scale, and before many steps of the process have been anywhere near fully optimized. They expect their costs to reach 2 cents/g by 2021, which would be cost competitive.
- yourapostasy 10y ago
  2 cents per gram translates to $9.07 per pound of Memphis Meats' cost. Assuming they skip the distributors (unlikely) and sell straight to retailers, it will be easily double that at the retail level, $18.14 per pound. They are more likely to end up around the $25-30 per pound price point at retail once all is said and done. That's starting to wander into dry-aged beef ribeye territory at a higher-end version of common grocery chains, and sale pricing numbers at Whole Foods Market. It predictably starts out as a luxury good, but as others have noted, cell culture-based processes have historically scaled pretty effectively. So probably 2-3 more decades after that with continuous refinements will bring it down to a price point that even the middle class will look at, so that's pretty exciting it is getting so close. What is the regulatory outlook for these products? Will they be regulated as pharmaceutical (due to the bioreactor origin) or food, or is this an issue currently being negotiated and discussed with government? I imagine investors would strongly prefer a food regulatory treatment.
  - sethbannon 10y ago
    You're absolutely right on the pricing and go to market strategy. The regulatory frameworks are still up in the air. I know from having attending the 1st and 2nd Cultured Meat Symposiums in Maastricht that both the USDA and the FDA are looking at clean meat. While both agencies seem pretty open and friendly towards it, they unfortunately both think they should be the one to regulate it :-)
    - fapjacks 10y ago
      The FDA thinks it should be the one to regulate everything. There is a culture of sociopathy and fascism at the FDA.
  - thevardanian 10y ago
    You also have to factor in the fact that meat produced in this country is also heavily subsidized by the government.
    - mnw21cam 10y ago
      "This country" isn't very specific.
      - r00fus 10y ago
        YC is based in the US.
- arikr 10y ago
  That's awesome! Any source on the 2c/g by 2021 goal?
  - sethbannon 10y ago
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZQMdlNOMew https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZQMdlNOMew
    - arikr 10y ago
      Thank you
- tomcam 10y ago
  > Just under a year ago, Memphis Meats was at $18,000/lb of clean beef produced. Now they're at $9,000/lb. That's a relief, because anything over $9,200/lb. causes me to consider having chicken one extra day a week.
virtuabhi 10y ago
Another startup, Impossible Foods, is selling burgers (with let-animals-live beef) for $15. Their technique seems to be slightly different, mixing lab-made heme with vegan ingredients. https://www.impossiblefoods.com https://www.impossiblefoods.com https://nishi.momofuku.com/nishi/menu/lunch/ https://nishi.momofuku.com/nishi/menu/lunch/

sethbannon 10y ago

The costs are still too high for commercial viability but they're dropping rapidly. In 2013, the first cultured burger cost $330,000 to make. Just under a year ago, Memphis Meats was at $18,000/lb of clean beef produced. Now they're at $9,000/lb. This is before any sort of efficiencies from scale, and before many steps of the process have been anywhere near fully optimized. They expect their costs to reach 2 cents/g by 2021, which would be cost competitive.

yourapostasy 10y ago
2 cents per gram translates to $9.07 per pound of Memphis Meats' cost. Assuming they skip the distributors (unlikely) and sell straight to retailers, it will be easily double that at the retail level, $18.14 per pound. They are more likely to end up around the $25-30 per pound price point at retail once all is said and done. That's starting to wander into dry-aged beef ribeye territory at a higher-end version of common grocery chains, and sale pricing numbers at Whole Foods Market. It predictably starts out as a luxury good, but as others have noted, cell culture-based processes have historically scaled pretty effectively. So probably 2-3 more decades after that with continuous refinements will bring it down to a price point that even the middle class will look at, so that's pretty exciting it is getting so close. What is the regulatory outlook for these products? Will they be regulated as pharmaceutical (due to the bioreactor origin) or food, or is this an issue currently being negotiated and discussed with government? I imagine investors would strongly prefer a food regulatory treatment.
- sethbannon 10y ago
  You're absolutely right on the pricing and go to market strategy. The regulatory frameworks are still up in the air. I know from having attending the 1st and 2nd Cultured Meat Symposiums in Maastricht that both the USDA and the FDA are looking at clean meat. While both agencies seem pretty open and friendly towards it, they unfortunately both think they should be the one to regulate it :-)
  - fapjacks 10y ago
    The FDA thinks it should be the one to regulate everything. There is a culture of sociopathy and fascism at the FDA.
- thevardanian 10y ago
  You also have to factor in the fact that meat produced in this country is also heavily subsidized by the government.
  - mnw21cam 10y ago
    "This country" isn't very specific.
    - r00fus 10y ago
      YC is based in the US.
arikr 10y ago
That's awesome! Any source on the 2c/g by 2021 goal?
- sethbannon 10y ago
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZQMdlNOMew https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZQMdlNOMew
  - arikr 10y ago
    Thank you
tomcam 10y ago
> Just under a year ago, Memphis Meats was at $18,000/lb of clean beef produced. Now they're at $9,000/lb. That's a relief, because anything over $9,200/lb. causes me to consider having chicken one extra day a week.

virtuabhi 10y ago

Another startup, Impossible Foods, is selling burgers (with let-animals-live beef) for $15. Their technique seems to be slightly different, mixing lab-made heme with vegan ingredients. https://www.impossiblefoods.com https://www.impossiblefoods.com https://nishi.momofuku.com/nishi/menu/lunch/ https://nishi.momofuku.com/nishi/menu/lunch/