# Cultivated meat’s “trough of disillusionment”

- Show: [Catalyst](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/catalyst)
- Published: 2025-02-27
- Length: 41m
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/catalyst/2025-02-27-cultivated-meats-trough-of-disillusionment

## Summary

Isha Datar, executive director of New Harvest and co-founder of Clara Foods and Perfect Day, explains that the cellular agriculture industry is in a 'trough of disillusionment' due to a lack of basic research and standardized biological tools. She argues that early startups failed by trying to replicate the vertically integrated meat industry rather than building a diverse biotech ecosystem, leading to unsustainable costs. Datar highlights that the path forward involves focusing on high-value ingredients like foie gras and sashimi, while advocating for shared research facilities and standardized cell banks to drive down costs and accelerate regulatory approval.

## Chapters

- [0:35](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/catalyst/2025-02-27-cultivated-meats-trough-of-disillusionment#t=35) Introduction and Industry Overview
- [5:27](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/catalyst/2025-02-27-cultivated-meats-trough-of-disillusionment#t=327) The Failure of First-Generation Startups
- [9:41](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/catalyst/2025-02-27-cultivated-meats-trough-of-disillusionment#t=581) Upstream Technical and Funding Silos
- [19:40](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/catalyst/2025-02-27-cultivated-meats-trough-of-disillusionment#t=1180) The Cost Stack: Media, Capex, and Downstream Processing
- [35:24](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/catalyst/2025-02-27-cultivated-meats-trough-of-disillusionment#t=2124) Strategic Shift to High-Value Products
- [38:20](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/catalyst/2025-02-27-cultivated-meats-trough-of-disillusionment#t=2300) Future Outlook and Call for Collaboration

## Topics

- [Scaling production](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/scaling-production)
- [Pricing, margins & unit economics](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/pricing-and-unit-economics)
- [Validation & product-market fit](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/validation-and-product-market-fit)
- [Sourcing & supply chain](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/sourcing-and-supply-chain)
- [Certification & compliance](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/certification-and-compliance)

## Most relevant to

early-stage companies

## Mentioned

- New Harvest (company)
- Clara Foods (company)
- Perfect Day (company)
- Gourmet (company)
- Wild Type (company)
- Sigma Aldrich (company)
- FAO (company)
- NIH (company)
- USDA (company)
- fetal bovine serum (material)
- foie gras (product)
- salmon sashimi (product)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [HIBT Lab! Wildtype: Aryé Elfenbein and Justin Kolbeck](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2022-06-02-hibt-lab-wildtype-arye-elfenbein-and-justin-kolbeck) (How I Built This)
- [Reimagining seafood production with Aryé Elfenbein and Justin Kolbeck of Wildtype (2022)](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2023-06-29-reimagining-seafood-production-with-arye-elfenbein-and-justin-kolbeck-of-wildtyp) (How I Built This)
- [R&D RADIO: Travis Zissu from Scale Food Lab](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-startup-cpg-podcast/2026-04-13-r-d-radio-travis-zissu-from-scale-food-lab) (The Startup CPG Podcast)
- [Ep. 8: Build a Food Business with Teeth - Chloe Sorvino, Forbes Magazine](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-startup-cpg-podcast/2020-08-13-ep-8-build-a-food-business-with-teeth-chloe-sorvino-forbes-magazine) (The Startup CPG Podcast)
- [When your dinner is printed with Eshchar Ben-Shitrit of Redefine Meat](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2023-09-28-when-your-dinner-is-printed-with-eshchar-ben-shitrit-of-redefine-meat) (How I Built This)

## Citing this page

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