Vireo has been collaborating with New Harvest on a safety initiative since 2020. New Harvest is a donor-funded research institute driving critical research on technological, ethical and safety issues for commercialization of cultured meat and seafood. On the second day of the annual New Harvest conference, leading researchers and thought-leaders from around the world explored the 'elephants in the room' related to manufacturing cultured meat, discussing environmental impact, scaling up processes, pre-competitive research, collaboration, ethical issues, inclusivity and more.

Dr. Kimberly Ong of Vireo presented an overview of critical safety work with New Harvest, now in Phase 2, that is being carried out to ‘solve for safety’ amongst an inspiring lineup of leaders in the cultured meat space.

But New Harvest recently announced they are running out of runway. Isha Datar, Executive Director of New Harvest said that she is no longer confident that New Harvest will raise their budgeted total for the year. She fears that they must move from a growth mindset to survival mode due to the economic slowdown, which is delaying anticipated gifts.

Vireo is proud to support New Harvest with a modest donation to allow that growth to continue. We were overwhelmed to witness the amazing and generous crowdfunding and in-kind contributions that occurred during an Emergency Town Hall on Friday to discuss their future. Please consider joining us as we support this amazing non-profit and the cell ag community they have built that is leading the way to create a safe and sustainable future for cultured meat and seafood.