Thanks for joining us on the Greenhero Podcast with your host, Rikard Bjorkdahl! On the show today is Nikita Michelsen, founder and CEO of cell-based company Pearlita Foods. Driven by her passion for human health and reversing climate change, Nikita decided to launch her company to build the future of seafood. Nikita and her team are on a mission to grow the universally loved oyster in a lab environment. In this way, we can keep more oysters in the ocean as nature's own filtration system to clean water.
Pearlita Foods was founded through a passion for maintaining important cultural traditions, flavors, and experiences without harm to the environment. Delicacies are becoming harder to get and more expensive, and Nikita feels that cell-based alternatives are the most authentic replacement. By using cell-based technology, Pearlita Foods can build the same flavor profile with the same nutritional value. With a background in marketing at SynBioBeta, a leading synthetic biology company, Nikita intersected her love for food with science for the better of the future of food.
Cell-based technology is complicated, but with a small biopsy for the type of tissue you’re trying to grow, you can attach it to a ‘scaffolding’ to develop into a product you can consume the same way you would in any other capacity. By targeting desired flavors and textures, you can build a flavor profile that matches the original. No shell, but the product will be packaged in a biodegradable, bright covering.
Oysters are ecosystem warriors to help filter water and carbon sequestration. Therefore, harvesting them after a year or two of development cuts short the impact their 20-year lifespan could have. By eventually immortalizing the line of tissue, this problem can be overcome.
Pearlita Foods has seen success partnering with restaurants, as it helps educate consumers and build interest and intrigue around the product. At the same time, it provides valuable feedback from consumers and chefs to build from. Eventually, they will shift to an online format, shipped directly.
As far as scaling, at present, it’s about bringing down costs to get the product to the public. Beyond that, accelerating the production process will help the growth of the company.
Consumer perception is top priority in getting an acceptance into the market. It’s not Frankenstein food–food grown in a lab is much cleaner and safer, it's sterile from start to finish, you will know immediately if there's contamination, and you won't get any contaminated food from a lab.
Comparatively, lab-grown oysters are absolutely less impactful on the ecosystem, but harm to the oceans is a complex problem. Farming can cause harm to the space around it, so bad eliminating that need, the impact is great.
Things you’ll learn
By using cell-based technology, Pearlita Foods can build the same flavor profile of oysters with the same nutritional value.
Oysters are ecosystem warriors to help filter water and carbon sequestration. Therefore, harvesting them after a year or two of development cuts short the impact their 20-year lifespan could have. By eventually immortalizing the line of tissue, this problem can be overcome.
Food grown in a lab is much cleaner and safer, it's sterile from start to finish, you will know immediately if there's contamination, and you won't get any contaminated food from a lab.
LINKS AND SOCIAL
https://www.pearlitafoods.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikita-michelsen-a575b511a/
