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Further Confirmation China Means Business as Cultivated Meat Patents Signal APAC Power Shift

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Further confirmation, if any was needed, that China means business when it comes to food security has just landed. This time it’s not a policy speech or a trade deal. It’s patents. Lots of them.


New analysis from the Good Food Institute APAC shows China is surging ahead in the global race to lock down cultivated meat patents. Of the top 20 patent applicants in the world, eight are Chinese, with a staggering number coming from public universities and government-linked institutions. Translation? This isn’t just corporate hustle, it’s a full-blown national strategy.


Let that sink in. Chinese public institutions have filed more cultivated meat patents than the US and Europe combined. And while the West debates whether fake meat is “real” food, Beijing is quietly making itself indispensable to the next protein economy.

GFI APAC Global Cultivated Meat Unique Patent Publications Showing China At The Top
Source: GFI APAC Global Cultivated Meat Unique Patent Publications Showing China At The Top

Take Avant Meats, for example. This Chinese startup has gone from stealth to spotlight in record time, pushing out innovations like cultivated fish maw bites (yes, that’s a thing), and securing a spot on GFI’s global patent leaderboard. They’re not just building a brand—they’re building a future export category.

Avant/GFI APAC - Avant Meats Cultivated Fish Maw Bites.
Source: Avant/GFI APAC - Avant Meats Cultivated Fish Maw Bites.

Zoom out and it’s clear, cultivated meat in China is no longer experimental. It’s infrastructural. In fact, the Beijing Municipal Commission of Development and Reform has now named cultivated meat as a pillar of the capital’s 2025–2027 green economy plan. Pinggu district is being positioned as a national industrial hub for alternative proteins. Not tech park fluff—policy-backed, investor-courting, lab-coated seriousness.


So where are Australia and New Zealand in all this?


Despite strong research chops and clean-green branding, both countries risk being caught flat-footed. If cultivated meat becomes a globally traded commodity—and it will—China, Singapore, and South Korea will already own the runway. Meanwhile, ANZ is still arguing over labelling laws and lobbying from legacy beef.


As GFI APAC points out, Asia now leads the world in cultivated meat patents, with more filed across APAC than in North America and Europe combined. This is no longer just a trend—it’s a geopolitical protein play.


TREND SIGNAL: BIOMANUFACTURED MEAT


  • Signal: China’s cultivated meat IP surge

  • Data Point: 8 of top 20 global patent applicants are Chinese

  • TikTok Views: Cultivated meat 🇨🇳 content exceeds 21M+

  • Retail Footprint: Growing; Avant targeting SEA & HK

  • Ingredient Format: Cultivated fish, pork, meat analogs

  • Product Range: Maw bites, hybrid blends, export-ready SKUs

  • Consumer Segment: Urban, middle-class, eco-aware

  • Brand Origin: China (Avant, Joes Future Food, etc.)

  • Export Status: Early-stage export trials underway

  • Trend Classification: APT / National Food Strategy

  • System Pressure Point: Sovereign protein resilience




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