Agronomics Regulatory News (ANIC)

 18 January 2024

 Agronomics Ltd

("Agronomics" or the "Company")

 Israel Awards the World's First Regulatory Approval for Cultivated Beef

Agronomics (LON: ANIC), a leading listed company in cellular agriculture, is pleased to announce that the Israeli Ministry of Health (IMOH) has granted regulatory approval for the world's first commercial sale of cultivated beef.

Agronomics would like to congratulate Aleph Farms on becoming the first company in the world to gain regulatory approval for its cultivated beef product after the IMOH issued a 'no questions' letter, which allows the company to commercialise its products in Israel. Aleph Farms has also filed for regulatory approval in Singapore, Switzerland, the UK and the US, and is advancing its applications in other markets.

Agronomics is aware of multiple companies, including those within its portfolio, that are expecting regulatory approvals for cultivated meat and seafood products across several markets. Meanwhile, Vow Food is in the middle of a consultation process after its cultured quail was cleared as safe to eat by Food Standards Australia and New Zealand in December 2023. 

These announcements follow Upside Foods and Good Meat, which received regulatory approval for their cultivated chicken products in the US last year.

Jim Mellon, Executive Chairman of Agronomics commented:

"This approval is another significant step forward for our industry and shows the commitment among an increasing number of jurisdictions to find more sustainable production methods to meet the increasing global demand for protein. We look forward to seeing some of Agronomics' portfolio companies achieving this significant milestone in the near future."  

About Agronomics

Agronomics is a leading listed alternative proteins company with a focus on cellular agriculture and cultivated meat. The Company has established a portfolio of 24 companies in this rapidly advancing sector. It seeks to secure minority stakes in companies owning technologies with defensible intellectual property that offer new ways of producing food and materials with a focus on products historically derived from animals. These technologies are driving a major disruption in agriculture, offering solutions to improve sustainability, as well as addressing human health, animal welfare and environmental damage. This disruption will decouple supply chains from the environment and animals, as well as being fundamental to feeding the world's expanding population. A full list of Agronomics' portfolio companies is available at https://agronomics.im/.

About Cellular Agriculture

Cellular Agriculture is the production of agriculture products directly from cells, as opposed to raising an animal for slaughter, or growing crops. This encompasses cell culture to produce cultivated meat and materials, and fermentation processes that harness a combination of molecular biology, synthetic biology, tissue engineering and biotechnology to massively simplify production methods in a sustainable manner.

Over the coming decades, the source of the world's food supply traditionally derived from conventional agriculture is going to change dramatically. We have already witnessed the first wave of this shift with the consumer adoption of plant-based alternative proteins but today, we are on the cusp of an even bigger wave of change. This is being facilitated by advances in cellular agriculture. This change is necessary, given scientists claims that if we maintain existing animal protein consumption patterns, then we will not meet the Paris Agreement's goal of limiting warming to 1.5?.

AT Kearney, a global consultancy firm, projects that cultivated meat's market share will reach 35% by 2040. This combined with the Good Food Institute's estimate that a US $1.8 trillion investment will be required in order to produce just 10% of the world's protein using this technology, means that we are on the cusp of a multi-decade flow of capital to build out manufacturing facilities. Funding in the field of cellular agriculture is accelerating, however still less than US$ 5 billion has been invested worldwide since the industry's inception in 2016.

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