US-based startup Hatchless has discovered a way to develop poultry meat using infertile chicken eggs. The process has the potential to produce sustainable poultry meat with reduced environmental impacts all while preserving farming traditions, it says.
Vahid Hosseini, CEO of Hatchless sat down with Fi Global Insights, to discuss the company’s innovative approach to poultry meat production.
Hosseini emphasised that Hatchless’s approach is fundamentally different from cultivated meat production, which begins with a sample of animal cells and aims to eliminate the use of animals in the process. He explained that Hatchless uses infertile eggs as a starting material.
To create cultivated meat, animal cells are typically grown in bioreactors. Hatchless, on the other hand, uses what Hosseini described as scaleable production units (SPUs). “We essentially follow the natural way of growing the chicks inside, but we change it a little bit...”
Hosseini explained that the company combines infertile egg and starter cells in the SPU. In doing so, the Hatchless team can control what parts of the chicken are grown. “We grow only edible meat tissue without dedicating egg nutritional sources to grow undesired tissues and organs such as bone, brain, beak, feathers,” he said, adding that modifications to the process enable the direct production of meat from the egg.
When asked to provide more details about the process, technology, inputs, ingredients, and manufacturing, Hosseini was reserved in sharing specifics.
According to the startup’s website, it has developed a novel and proprietary meat production technology that enables the production of “all-natural, no-kill” poultry meat from eggs without using chemicals, growth factors, hormones, enzymes, antibiotics, or genetically modified cells.
Hosseini stressed that Hatchless’s methodology does not fit neatly into any established space. It combines elements of traditional animal agriculture with technological advancements, and “because of that, I'm calling [our method] agrifoodtech,” he said.
This method, he explained, allows the company to bypass some of the more complex and costly challenges associated with producing cultivated meat, particularly those related to bioprocessing systems.
Hatchless is yet to publish any information about its process, however, according to Hosseini, it has filed seven patents, four of which are filed as Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) applications and will become public in the next few months.
According to Hosseini, the poultry protein produced by Hatchless is almost identical to conventional chicken in terms of taste, texture, and nutritional value. Hosseini said that food experts have assessed Hatchless’s poultry protein and indicated that the meat is a significant advancement toward achieving taste parity with alternative chicken, making it a potentially strong contender in the market.
Texturally, the meat is similar to ground chicken: “Upon cooking, it gets firm ... [and] when you chew [it], you have the kind of meat texture that you expect from chicken,” he said.
The team is still in the process of analysing the nutritional value of its poultry meat but confirmed that it is comparable to conventional poultry in terms of protein content.
While the team is currently focusing on producing chicken protein, Hosseini explained that the methodology could be applied to any poultry, such as turkeys or ostriches.
Hatchless is in the early stages of scaling up its production capabilities. At the moment, it is operating out of a small facility and technical lab but, according to Hosseini, within a year, Hatchless aims to have a pilot facility that is capable of producing its poultry meat at a larger scale up and running.
The company has also recently begun engaging with regulatory bodies such as the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ensure its product can be brought to market in compliance with safety and food standards. The company plans to launch its first commercial facility within four to five years.
When asked about its business model, Hosseini explained that Hatchless plans to position itself as a B2B company, meaning it will produce meat to be sold to food companies, rather than directly to consumers.
He explained that the company is in the process of developing partnerships with large food corporations that can assist in bringing the poultry meat to market. Partnerships will be essential for leveraging the experience, market access, and distribution networks of established food companies, while the Hatchless team will work on the back end, developing the meat, and fundraising throughout the manufacturing process, all in a quest to make a final product accessible to the public as soon as possible.
Hosseini stressed that Hatchless’s business model is designed to be both sustainable and profitable, ensuring that farmers, retailers, and end consumers can all benefit from the product. He sees Hatchless as a farming technology, and with that, comes a value proposition across the supply chain.
In June of 2023, two cultivated meat companies received the first-ever US FDA approval to sell and serve their products in the US, but the regulatory landscape in Europe tells a different story. As of September 2024, no cultivated meat products have been approved for sale in the European Union.
One major criticism of cultivated meat is that it goes against traditional farming. In November of last year, for example, Italy banned lab-grown meat in a move to “protect farmers”, and in January of 2024, France considered placing restrictions on cultivated meat after parliamentarians presented a bill in the National Assembly that bans the commercialisation of cell-based meat.
Cultivated meat, which uses animal cells, can largely bypass traditional farming processes, effectively cutting farmers out of the meat production chain. In contrast, Hosseini explained that Hatchless’s process is designed to keep farmers as an integral part of the meat production chain. The company relies on eggs as its starting material, which means farmers would still play a crucial role in the supply chain by producing eggs.
Hatchless’s process also aligns with the growing consumer demand for more sustainable and ethical farming. By producing meat without slaughtering animals, the company presents a solution that could appeal to consumers who have concerns about environmental sustainability and animal welfare.
