by Sam Johnson, for MadisonStartups.com

In the last few years, the alternative protein movement has been brought to many consumers’ attention. Companies like Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat have started showing up in grocery stores, but here in Madison, one company is attempting to be the first to bring cell-cultured lobster to consumers.

Culture Decadence, started in 2020 by John Pattison and Ian Johnson, is a cellular agriculture company with the stated goal of producing delicious, nutritious and sustainable seafood—starting with lobster meat—directly from animal’s using cell culture.

“It all started with a serendipitous encounter with what I thought was a hamburger,” Pattison said.

This was on the streets of New York City, where Pattison was pursuing his MBA at NYU Stern, that Pattison had his fortuitous first bite of a Beyond Burger, which mimics the taste and texture of beef using plants. It was this moment that sparked Pattison’s interest in novel meat production.

From there, John’s interest in cell-cultured meat would take him across the country, to San Francisco, where he would end up meeting his eventual co-founder, Ian Johnson, while the two were working for other cell-cultured meat companies. The two of them teamed up with the ambition to do what no other company was doing—start a cell-cultured crustacean meat company, ultimately landing in Madison.

According to a study, lobster and shrimp farming produce more carbon emissions than either chicken or pork farming. Meanwhile, demand for sustainable seafood has increased, GlobalScan reported.

The process of growing cell-cultured meat starts with a single cell. Once a cell line has been established, the cells are transferred to a growth medium, where the cells are introduced to any nutrients they may need to grow. After the cells have multiplied to sufficient sample, they are transferred to a scaffolding agent where they continue to grow. This arduous process requires extreme attention to detail and is met with many pitfalls, including vascularization, chemical bonding and textural qualities.

“We certainly have scientific challenges,” Pattison said. “If it was easy, it may have already been done before. But that’s what attracts us to it and that’s what attracts our science team, being able to discover something that is truly novel.”

Cultured Decadence received some recognition last year when it won the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce’s annual Pressure Chamber pitch competition. This month, the company announced it raised $1.6 million in pre-seed financing, which will be used to expand its team and continue the development of cell-cultured lobster meat prototypes in preparation for a commercial launch.

Still, the company faces numerous challenges ahead.

“None of this is going to work unless the price is right, it tastes good, and it’s safe and nutritious,” Pattison said.

Photo courtesy of Cultured Decadence