We are excited to announce two strategic agreements that increase our production capabilities and global impact ahead of commercialization.
Aleph Farms has acquired a manufacturing facility in Modi’in, Israel and certain related assets from biotechnology company VBL Therapeutics (Nasdaq: VBLT). Existing assets from VBL will be paired with a smooth technology transfer from our pilot production facility in Rehovot to increase local output.
Aleph Farms’ new manufacturing facility in Modi’in, acquired from VBL Therapeutics
In addition, we have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with ESCO Aster, a vertically-integrated contract manufacturing organization, to produce cultivated meat in Singapore. The signing of this MOU was witnessed by the Ambassador of Israel to Singapore, HE Sagi Karni, and the Non-Resident Ambassador of Singapore to Israel and Chairman of the Singapore Food Agency, HE Lim Chuan Poh. ESCO Aster is the world’s first and only company with full regulatory approval from a government authority (Singapore Food Agency), and with ISO 22000 and FSSC 22000 certifications, to produce cultivated meat for commercial sales and consumption at the highest safety standards.
From left to right: Didier Toubia (CEO and co-founder of Aleph Farms); Ambassador of Israel to Singapore, HE Sagi Karni (Ambassador of Israel to Singapore); HE Lim Chuan Poh (Non-Resident Ambassador of Singapore to Israel and Chairman of the Singapore Food Agency); Xiangliang (XL) Lin (CEO of ESCO Aster and Deputy CEO of ESCO Lifesciences Group)
This MOU covers the use of ESCO Aster’s manufacturing expertise in producing Aleph Farms’ cultivated meat in Singapore, helping the nation work towards its goal of “30 by 30”— the establishment of agri-food capabilities that can satisfy 30% of the island’s nutritional needs locally and sustainably by 2030. Such terms also position Singapore as a focal point for Aleph Farms’ future expansion in Southeast Asia and the broader Asia-Pacific region.
“Israel and Singapore are the first two markets where we intend to launch our cultivated thin-cut steak. Building up production capacity quickly in those locations while keeping capital investment lean provides a clear roadmap to scalability,” said Didier Toubia, CEO and co-founder of Aleph Farms. “Beyond Israel and Singapore, we plan on building additional strategic assets worldwide as part of our effort to bring more security and resilience to food systems.”
The MOU with ESCO Aster also represents a step towards earning religious certification for our cultivated thin-cut steak, which would denote the steak as permitted for consumption by people of various religious faiths.
Aleph Farms and ESCO Aster are planning for the latter’s cultivated meat facility in Singapore to be the first such facility in the world to clear such regulatory and religious requirements. ESCO Aster CEO Xiangliang (XL) Lin emphasized that the two companies “will work together with religious authorities on obtaining relevant certificates for [ESCO Aster’s] facility, enabling the collaboration with Aleph Farms to expand to even more of the broader region.”
Achieving religious-compliance certifications or our cultivated thin-cut steak would allow people across different faiths to enjoy our steak safely within the bounds of their religious tradition, helping us to advance our inclusive vision for food security. We are in touch with religious authorities around the world about certifying our products as viable dietary options for people that have different religious practices, and such authorities have indicated an openness to publicly assure adherents that cultivated meat products are appropriate to consume.
In January, the Chief Rabbi of Israel, David Baruch Lau, ruled Aleph Farms’ cultivated steak to be kosher, which means permitted for consumption by Jews under religious law. This ruling, coming from the leader of the Chief Rabbinate — a bellwether rabbinic council for religious certifications in Judaism — opened the door for us to receive a kosher certificate ahead of our market launch later this year.
