8. Mercury and Plastic-free Seafood: Saving Tuna & Other Fish from Extinction (video)

Author: Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley
Published: Fri 06 Oct 2023
Episode Link: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/rotarypodcast/episodes/8--Mercury-and-Plastic-free-Seafood-Saving-Tuna--Other-Fish-from-Extinction-video-e2a5s6q

Umami meats is now Umami Bioworks:

⁠https://vegconomist.com/cultivated-cell-cultured-biotechnology/cultivated-seafood/umami-meats-rebrands-umami-bioworks/⁠

⁠https://umamibioworks.com/⁠

⁠https://www.linkedin.com/company/umamibioworks/⁠

Cultivated Seafood: A Sustainable Solution

Our speaker this week, Mihir Pershad, is the founder and CEO of Umami Bioworks, where he is building a team pioneering cultivated, 'not caught' seafood by crafting delicious, nutritious, and affordable cultivated fish that is better for our health, our oceans, and our future.

From Mihir: "Only 7% of global fisheries are sustainable but seafood demand will grow 50% by 2050. Aquaculture can't keep up with demand and there are more than 2 dozen species we cannot farm that we are driving extinct due to overfishing for human consumption.

“Our seafood supply is also increasingly contaminated with heavy metals, microplastics, parasites, and antibiotics and global fishing contributes more GHG emissions than the entire aviation sector. We need novel, more sustainable methods to produce the additional 100 million tons of seafood needed by 2050 if we are to feed humanity while preserving and restoring our planet.

"At Umami Meats, we are developing a platform for producing cultivated, 'not caught' seafood to enable local, price competitive production of cultivated fish that keeps endangered species in the ocean while providing consumers with delicious, healthy, low emissions, sustainable seafood.

“We are dedicated to regenerating our oceans and our planet by enabling consumers to have their fish and eat it too, starting with IUCN Red Listed species that are difficult to farm and that are being driven extinct by human consumption.

“Our goal is to be the "Intel inside" the seafood industry to allow traditional seafood suppliers to produce millions of tons of cultivated seafood that help them overcome dwindling traditional supply, meet growing demand, and establish a food system that is sustainable for the next century and beyond."

Mihir has an academic background in protein biochemistry and has spent his career working to commercialize deep tech innovations to address humanity's grand challenges. Most recently, he was a Venture Partner at Early Charm Ventures, where he led the commercialization of university spinouts at the intersection of biotechnology and aquaculture. Mihir is also author of Cultivated Abundance, a book that outlines a framework for entrepreneurs to leverage transformative technologies to build an inspiring, abundant future for humanity.

⁠⁠More about the Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley⁠⁠