REHOVOT, ISRAEL – Cultured meat food company, Aleph Farms Ltd., and Mitsubishi Corp.’s Food Industry Group signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to bring cultivated meat to Japanese consumers. Mitsubishi Corp. will provide its expertise in biotechnology processes, branded food manufacturing, and local distribution channels in Japan, and Aleph Farms will provide its scalable, BioFarm manufacturing platform for the cultivation of whole muscle steaks.

“The MoU with Mitsubishi Corp.’s Food Industry Group marks an important milestone for us, as we methodically build the foundations of our global go-to-market activities with selected partners,” said Didier Toubia, co-founder and chief executive officer of Aleph Farms.

The partnership between Mitsubishi Corp., comprised of 10 business groups covering many industries including food resources, fresh foods, consumer products, and food ingredients and Aleph Farms will take a lead role in fighting climate change, and help the Japanese government achieve its goal of zero greenhouse gas emissions. In April 2020, Aleph Farms committed to eliminating emissions associated with its meat production by 2025 and reach net-zero emissions across its entire supply chain by 2030. The memorandum also intends to provide actionable solutions to overcome Japanese consumers’ demand for meat and the market’s challenges surrounding the domestic meat supply. This includes creating stable food channels with quality nutrition.

“This is part of a network of ‘BioFarm to Fork’ strategic partnerships being developed by Aleph Farms in APAC, LATAM, and Europe, following the successful 2019 Round-A strategic investment by Cargill and the Migros Group in Switzerland,” said Gary Brenner, vice president of market development at Aleph Farms.

Aleph Farms and Mitsubishi Corp. are members of the “Cellular Agriculture Study Group,” a consortium implementing policy proposals under the Japanese Center for Rule-Making Strategy. The consortium brings together a range of experts on the definition and construction of cellular agricultural foods, as well as adding clarification of conditions for Japanese products and technologies to compete internationally. The group also establishes mechanisms for coexistence and division of roles with existing industries.