CellX and Tofflon to build 'China’s first' cultivated meat pilot plant

An exciting new strategic partnership agreement has been reached between China's CellX and Tofflon, with Xiaodong Zheng (Chairman of Tofflon) and Ziliang Yang (Co-founder and CEO of CellX, pictured above) representing both companies at a signing on 1 February 2023. The two companies will work together in the field of cultivated meat, developing innovative equipment and building a pilot production plant, as well as local and global facilities for commercial production.

The two companies hope to leverage CellX’s technical expertise in cultivated meat and Tofflon’s extensive biological equipment and production capability to accelerate the scaling up of CellX’s cultivated meat products.

During the signing event, CellX and Tofflon shared the rendering of China's first pilot facility for cultivated meat. The plant will allow CellX to scale up its suspension cell lines in serum-free media at 1,000-liter scale. It will also be equipped with Tofflons’ digital and intelligent equipment management systems.

The facility will host multiple 1,000-liter bioreactors and will provide an interactive space for consumers to taste CellX’s demo products. It will be China's first 'transparent food space' for cultivated meat R&D, pilot production, and public tasting, and will be completed within a year.

Zheng delivered a speech at the event, expressing his firm beliefs in the cultivated meat industry and CellX’s R&D progress.

"CellX is the leading cultivated meat company in China," he said. "It has built R&D platforms across the four major technological pillars of cultivated meat – cell line development, media optimization, novel bioprocess design, and end product innovation. Cultivated meat is a promising application of biotechnology in the field of food tech. With the experience and expertise accumulated in the field of biopharma and food production, Tofflon will help CellX to speed the scaling up of its cultivated meat products and it hopes to contribute to a sustainable future for human kind."

Yang also shared CellX’s latest R&D progress and strategic plans for the future. "Besides being the world’s largest meat market, China is also an emerging leader in the field of bio-manufacturing. Thanks to its booming biotech industry, China is quickly building a strong infrastructure and supply chain. Tofflon is one of the world's leading providers of comprehensive solutions for drug and food manufacturing, and their equipment and technologies can be quickly applied to the field of cultivated meat.

"As part of our strategic partnership, the construction of a pilot facility is the cornerstone of CellX's journey to scale up cultivated meat production in China," Yang added. "I look forward to working with Tofflon to bring cultivated meat to consumers in China and around the world."