Context:

  • Recently Kochi-headquartered ICAR-Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) has entered into a collaborative research agreement with a private-sector start-up offering cultivated meat technology solutions to grow fish meat in the laboratory.
  • The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by the institute, which works under the Union Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, with New Delhi-based Neat Meatt Biotech is the first initiative of its kind in the country.

What is lab-grown fish?

  • It refers to a type of lab-grown or cultivated/ cultured meat.
  • It can be further explained as Seafood without the sea is ‘grown’ in the same way as other cultivated meats are grown without the need to raise and kill an animal.
  • Cultivated fish meat is generated by isolating specific cells from fish and growing them in a laboratory setting using media that is free of animal components.
  • The final product is expected to replicate the flavour, texture, and nutritional qualities of ‘real’ fish meat.

What is the need to grow fish meat in the lab?

  • Experiments are ongoing in many countries to develop commercially viable lab grown fish meat.
  • This is expected to address the ever growing demand for seafood, and reduce excessive pressure on wild resources.
  • Overfishing which means the removal of fish faster than the resource can replenish itself has resulted in dramatic reductions in populations of certain species, which has impacted entire marine ecosystems in many areas.
  • In theory, lab grown fish meat has significant potential for ensuring food security and also environmental benefits.
  • Besides taking some load off traditional fishing, lab grown fish meat will be antibiotics- and environmental contamination-free, and also will have no contact with microplastics or heavy metals in the polluted oceans.