In South Korea, cultivated meat producer CellMEAT has unveiled a caviar prototype based on the popular Osetra caviar.
The innovation could one day deliver the fish egg delicacy at affordable prices and without the ethical and sustainability challenges that plague traditional production of fish roe.
Sturgeon, a major source of caviar, does not reproduce often and is overfished, leading to high prices and alarmingly low populations. Warming ocean temperatures and microplastics also threaten future production of caviar.
CellMEAT hopes to address these overfishing concerns. It raised $8.1 million last spring, and has submitted cultivated Dokdo Shrimp for regulatory approval.