Wildtype Food, Salmon without the Fish

Not all of the episodes in the podcast series "How I Built This" are about biotech, but Episode 415 is, and it is fascinating! How to eat salmon, without catching fish? That is the question Wildtype cellular agriculture company founders Aryé Elfenbein and Justin Kolbeck are answering. When they first met in 2011 they had not planned on starting a company, Aryé was a cardiologist busy with medicine, and Justin was a diplomat who had lived all over the world. But something clicked, and soon the two were tackling the problems of hunger and environmental degradation by coaxing salmon stem cells to become food. Their first samples, developed in a lab in San Francisco while they both still had their day jobs, was not quite the flavor they wanted, but gave them hope that the idea was worth pursuing. Salmon taste and texture has a wide range, influenced in part by species, source and handling. After many iterations in 2019 they debuted a salmon roll that, according to tasters, could successfully compete for the appetites of consumers. However, although they did not sell the salmon rolls (FDA approval is still in the future) the estimated price would have been $200, not a consumer friendly price. Obviously further work still had to be done but Wildtype was on its way. The company brought in specialized tanks, similar to brewery tanks, as well as scaffolds to help develop the textures expected in a raw salmon fillet. Listen to the podcast and hear more about their mission, and how cellular agriculture might help save the planet, one mouthful at a time.