US cultivated pork startup Clever Carnivore has hosted its first tasting events on the West Coast, ahead of a planned launch in 2026.
Chicago-based Clever Carnivore is continuing to gear up for the launch of its cultivated pork products in the US.
The company hosted private tastings in Palo Alto and San Francisco on July 29, its first such events on the West Coast, convening investors, chefs, and food industry operators.
“Everyone was impressed by the delicious product, but even more so by our low production costs and scalable, modular process,” Clever Carnivore claimed in a LinkedIn post.
Clever Carnivore’s prototype bratwurst contains 10% pork cells
At the events, attendees got a taste of the startup’s cultivated bratwursts, which contained 10% pork cells. This form of hybrid meat, which combines cultured and plant-based ingredients, is a common fixture in the industry, as it allows companies to keep costs low and supplies stable at current scales.
“Our prototype products incorporate a plant-based fat,” co-founder and CEO Virginia Rangos told Green Queen in June. “Our cultivated pork delivers the ‘meaty’ flavour, allowing us to use plant-based fats and reap the nutritional benefits of plant-based vs animal fats.”
Despite the low inclusion rate, the sausages seemed to prove a hit with taste-testers. “As someone from Germany who hasn’t eaten a traditional [bratwurst] in years, I was shocked,” said Anita Broellochs, founder of fermented plant protein powder maker Balletic Foods. “It honestly was one of the best bratwursts I’ve ever had.”
The cultivated pork product also left Irfan Tahir, a scientist at light-derived novel protein maker Prolific Machines, impressed. “I may have gone back for seconds (okay, I definitely did),” he remarked.
Tasting events are crucial for cultivated meat startups, allowing them to gain first-hand consumer insights about their products and finetune them before market launch. Clever Carnivore’s West Coast events follow two tastings in June (including one in Chicago), where it served over 50 bratwursts.
“We’ve spoken to conventional meat advocates who candidly told us they ‘wanted to hate’ our product,” Ramos said. “But when presented with a product that cooks and tastes just like the sausage they’ve always loved, they quickly became intrigued.”
Aside from taste, she noted that people have appreciated its value proposition: the cultivated pork is free from steroids, antibiotics or GMOs; has a secure food supply chain with domestic production; and offers expanded options that will keep products on shelves amid shortages and price inflation for conventional meat.
Clever Carnivore targets 2026 launch with industry-leading media costs
Rangos was speaking to Green Queen to discuss Clever Carnivore’s latest cost breakthroughs, in its effort to match the price of conventional pork.
The company has brought the cost of its culture media down to an industry-leading $0.07 per litre at pilot scale, sped up the doubling times of its porcine cells to 14 hours, and designed inexpensive bioreactors that could enable its demo facility to reach profitability in its first full year of production.
“Our expertise in media optimisation allows us to replace expensive components like bovine serum albumin and fetal bovine serum with carefully chosen alternatives, [and] ensure that we’re using only the absolutely essential components, maximising growth and minimising cost and waste,” Rangos explained.
Clever Carnivore is now raising a $7M extension to its seed round from 2023 (which also closed at $7M) to develop new products and secure regulatory approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). So far, Upside Foods, Good Meat, Mission Barns, Wildtype, and Believer Meats have received a ‘no questions’ letter from the agency.
“In reviewing their published dossiers, we paid close attention to which data the FDA ultimately asked them to provide, and we’re providing as much information as possible in our initial submission,” Rangos explains. “We project [our] cultivated meat could be available on the market as early as summer 2026.”
Asked how the company plans to launch its innovations, she added: “We’re very interested in partnering with existing conventional meat and restaurant chain brands. We know we’re asking consumers to try something new, and we think presenting Clever Carnivore’s cultivated meat for the first time under a label consumers recognise and trust will go a long way toward getting consumers to try the product.”
The company’s tastings come at an exciting time for cultivated meat in the US. Wildtype’s cultured salmon is rolling out at restaurants across the US, including in Oregon, California and Washington state. Mission Barns, meanwhile, has earned its USDA approval and will debut its cultivated pork products at Fiorella Sunset in San Francisco, alongside a retail launch at Sprouts Farmers Market.
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