In London, scientists at Caviar Biotec and University College London have grown sturgeon caviar in a lab using cells from a fish egg sac. The process achieved such efficiency that a 300-square-meter facility could generate more caviar than is produced globally every year. At such yields, the delicacy that normally retails for upwards of $200 for a 125-gram tin could potentially be enjoyed outside of the minted class.
The company expects its caviar to be cheaper to produce than the real thing by 2024 or 2025, with the cost of the growth medium the main cost hurdle.
“We have the exact same cell that turns into caviar and we are growing that in a liquid instead of inside a fish,” Ken Benning, founder of Caviar Biotec, told the The Times. “There are no antibiotics, no killing of fish. It’s as simple as that.”
He adds that humanity’s demand of caviar and seafood is so strong there will soon be “no bloody fish left.”