Catch of the Future as Wildtype’s Cultivated Salmon Makes FDA History

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So here we are. The future just swam onto your dinner plate and all without fishing nets, mercury warnings, or eco-guilt. Wildtype, the San Francisco cultivated salmon start-up with a with serious a sushi-grade ambition, has just scored a historic FDA thumbs-up to sell cultivated salmon across the United States. Yes, that’s right, salmon grown in a lab, not the ocean. No sea lice, no overfishing, no drama.

Source: Wildtype Cultivated Salmon

Let’s be clear, this isn’t fishy business. Wildtype’s cell-based salmon is made from real fish cells, multiplied in high-tech bioreactors until you’ve got a silky slab of salmon that chefs say rivals the wild stuff. And now, it’s cleared for takeoff, courtesy of the FDA. That makes Wildtype the first cultivated seafood company to get the go-ahead to sell in the US. Cue the aquaculture revolution or at least a few startled looks down at the sashimi platter.

Wildtype's debut? Not in Silicon Valley or some flashy Manhattan eatery, but in Portland, at Kann, the award-winning restaurant run by Chef Gregory Gourdet. He’s plating up this sci-fi salmon with pickled strawberry, spiced tomato, and a cracking epis rice cracker. Thursdays for now, daily service from July. If that sounds like something you’d want on your fork, join the queue.

Source: Wildtype - Cultivated salmon being served at Kann in Portland, OR

Meanwhile, the cultivated meat and seafood space just got its validation moment. This approval isn’t just a PR win, it’s a systemic shift. Wildtype’s CEO, Justin Kolbeck, told media the FDA nod shows there’s a path for cell-based seafood to become a mainstream alternative. That’s a tectonic plate shift beneath the seafood supply chain, especially as ocean stocks dwindle and microplastic counts go up.

The deal is done. The gate is open. The post-fish era has arrived and it tastes a lot like the old one, minus the environmental baggage.

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