Ahead of Singapore Approval, Gourmey Teases Cultivated Meat That Costs $3.40 Per Pound
6 Mins Read
A techno-economic analysis has found that French cultivated meat startup Gourmey’s bioreactor system can reach production costs of $3.43 per lb.
When you remove the politics of it all, people aren’t as resistant to cultivated meat as some would have you believe.
In a 16-country survey last year, support for the sale of these foods โ if they pass regulatory assessments โ ranged from 48-69% in Europe. Those who backed a ban on cultivated meat, meanwhile, were largely in the minority.
One of the most influential barriers to any potential intake of cultivated meat isn’t cultural, as Italy’s ban seems to suggest. Instead, it has to do with the price tag.
According to a 4,000-person survey in Europe, three in five consumers feel cultivated meat will only be successful if itโs affordable for everyone. In fact, nearly half expect it to be cheaper than conventional meat, and only 15% would buy it if itโs more expensive (versus 60% who wouldnโt).
While the cost of producing meat by culturing animal cells in bioreactors has long been prohibitive, things are changing quickly.
Among the companies spearheading the price shift is Gourmey, a French startup culturing duck cells to produce cultivated foie gras (and working on cultivated chicken too). It is pursuing approval in six markets, and was the first to file an application in the EU.
A techno-economic analysis by consulting firm Arthur D Little has revealed that the firm’s production model can dramatically lower costs, allowing it to potentially manufacture cultivated meat for as little as $3.43 per lb.
The assessment validates the economic viability of Gourmey’s 5,000-litre bioreactor system, and confirms that it can reach these costs without relying on speculative technologies or mega-scale infrastructure.
Gourmey CEO Nicolas Morin-Forest explains that the analysis was conducted on a finished product containing about half cultivated cells, with the rest made up of plant-based ingredients like fats or proteins. “This approach can hence apply to a very wide range of cultivated products,” he tells Green Queen.
How Gourmey keeps cultivated meat cost-effective
Founded in 2019 by Morin-Forest, Victor Sayous and Antoine Davydoff,ย Gourmey’s platform is built around a “second-generation” technology stack that replaces legacy biopharma techniques with food-grade, cost-effective, scalable processes. It combines continuous production, undifferentiated cell biomass, and suspension-based cell cultures to support efficiency and consistency.
“One of the main reasons we can keep costs low is that we use stem cells with natural, endless self-renewal capabilities. These cells can be cultivated for very long periods, allowing us to continuously apply selective pressure and adapt them to the most efficient cell feed formulations, all while maximising yields,” explains Morin-Forest.
“Our stem cells are extremely robust and grow very quickly, doubling in less than 16 hours, which lets us reach exceptionally high cell densities,” he adds, outlining how this has enabled the breakthrough of its proprietary cell culture medium.
“Because our cells thrive without proteins or growth factors, we can bring our food-safe feed price down to around 20 cents per litre, just a fraction of whatโs typical in the industry,” he says. “The stability and performance of our stem cells also make them ideally suited for continuous manufacturing, and weโre able to avoid traditional scale-up bottlenecks like scaffolding and micro-carriers to drive costs down even further.”
Arthur D Little’s analysis finds that Gourmey’s modular and repeatable platform can enable it to keep capital expenditure under โฌ35M per facility, with an output of 1,700 tonnes using just six 5,000-litre bioreactors. These benchmarks can be met via “achievable and clearly defined process optimisations”, the startup says.
“The main levers are about relentlessly increasing cell densities by refining our proprietary, food-safe cell feed to reduce its cost while maintaining performance,” says Morin-Forest. “One of the industryโs challenges is minimising waste and making sure that every single compound in the cell feed is genuinely used for cell growth. Weโre speeding up these developments with advanced modelling that predicts cellular behaviour, so we can cut iteration time.”
He adds: “Ultimately, much of the cost reduction comes from trivialities: scaling out by adding more bioreactors and unlocking economies of scale as we ramp up cell feed purchases, just like in any industry.”
Gourmey expects Singapore approval soon, hints at broader portfolio
Gourmey currently operates an innovation centre and a pilot facility in central Paris, where its team runs multiple 400L bioreactors. “In addition, we have a dedicated setup with a 5,000L bioreactor, the largest bioreactor for cultivated meat in Europe to our knowledge,” says Morin-Forest.
“Most of the scale effects on production cost are already delivered at the 5,000L scale, allowing us to reach $3.43/lb, or โฌ7/kg in a commercial setup, without the need for even larger, unproven bioreactors.
Gourmeyโs approach keeps operational complexity, industrial risk, and capital needs much lower. Our production process is so efficient that scaling beyond 5,000 litres simply isnโt necessary.”
The company has so far raised โฌ65M via public and private investments: when asked about future fundraising plans, it declined to comment. No other cultivated meat company has filed regulatory dossiers in as many markets as Gourmey, which is awaiting approval in the US, Singapore, the UK, Switzerland, the EU, and another undisclosed region.
“We expect our first approval in Singapore soon,” Morin-Forest reveals.
It has been gearing up for launch over the last year, forming an advisory board with Michelin-starred chefs Claude Le Tohic (One65), Rasmus Munk (Alchemist), and Daniel Calvert (Sรฉzanne), holding talks with major protein producers, and securing deals with premium foodservice and distribution partners.
Its cultivated foie gras is a high-margin product that takes on an industry marred in controversy. More than a dozen countries have banned the prized delicacy out of animal welfare concerns (geese and ducks are traditionally force-fed to fatten their liver). Gourmey’s version “significantly lowers the environmental footprint” and does away with the cruelty.
It is not the only company making cultivated foie gras. Australia’s Vow unveiled its innovation last year under its Forged brand and has rolled it out to restaurants in Singapore. It will launch in its home country later this year, following final ministerial approval.
As for Gourmey, the demand for their product is already outpacing its supply. “Weโre a B2B company and our first customers are premium food wholesalers serving the worldโs best tables,” says Morin-Forest. “Demand from premium food service and distribution partners now exceeds our planned production capacity.”
And it isn’t stopping here. “Cultivated foie gras is our launchpad for a broader portfolio, including additional poultry proteins and other species,” he says.
