Cultivated seafood start-up Forsea has made a breakthrough in its production of cultured freshwater eel.

The Israeli company announced that its organoid technology has reached record-breaking cell density of more than 300 million cells/ml, and with minimal and precise use of cultured media ingredients.

According to Forsea, this is the highest cell density recorded in the field, positioning the start-up at the forefront of cultured seafood production efficiency.

The landmark technology allows for a scalable and highly cost-effective supply for the popular Japanese delicacy, eel (unagi). Traditionally, its availability has been significantly hampered by overfishing and the destruction of aquatic ecosystems.

Forsea is currently focusing on manufacturing cultured freshwater eel due to its market potential, particularly in Japan. As the world’s largest consumer of eel, Japan recorded sales of 140,000 tons in 2023, totalling 50% of global sales. In Japan, unagi is considered a premium delicacy, prized for its rich flavour and tender texture, and also because of its rarity.

Better, faster, economical

Forsea created a new approach to cell cultivating fish tissues outside of their native water habitats via organoid technology. Forsea’s patent-protected platform involves creating the ideal environment for animal cells to spontaneously assemble into 3D tissue structures with their natural composition of fat, muscle and connective tissue.

This method echoes the natural growth process of these tissues in a living animal, giving it a closer-to-nature edge, while bypassing the scaffolding stage, which means it is significantly less dependent on growth factors. This makes the process ‘highly affordable’ and positions its cell-grown version to price parity (or potentially lower) with traditionally produced eel.

Moria Shimoni, CTO of Forsea, said: “The breakthrough to this level of cell density highlights the strength of our organoid technology. It’s a validation of our approach to high-efficiency cultivation of seafood to meet both economic and sustainability goals at scale”.

After completing its proof-of-concept continuous harvesting process, Forsea says that it is now ready to take production of its cultured fish products to the next phase of commercial scale-up.

Roee Nir, founder and CEO of Forsea, commented:

Nir continued: “This is a major milestone for Forsea and validates our vision of making sustainable, high-quality seafood affordable and widely accessible. It also sets a powerful precedent for scaling other cultured seafood products and establishing sustainable alternative supply chains for ecologically sensitive species.”

Elliot Swartz, principal scientist of cultivated meat at GFI, added: “Our recent industry survey shows that cultivated meat production is definitely not a one-size-fits-all approach. It's encouraging to see positive data from companies showing how different methods can address challenges in cost and scale. I'm especially pleased to see a GFI research grantee, Iftach Nachman, help a start-up pioneer new ways of cultivating meat. This is a great example of how foundational open-access science enables and makes possible follow-on work by the private sector.”

Forsea is preparing for commercial launch of its unagi product in 2026. Earlier this year, the start-up held a successful tasting event at the ‘a’ restaurant in Tel Aviv, Israel, where it served its cultivated unagi kabayaki – grilled fresh eel on a bed of aromatic rice – receiving positive reviews.

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