California Cultured Joins Forces with Japanese Chocolate Giant Meiji for Cell-Based Cocoa Products

US startup California Cultured will see its cell-based cocoa incorporated in products by Japanese chocolate giant Meiji, with a 10-year commercial partnership for the former’s Flavanol Cocoa Powder.

West Sacramento-based food tech company California Cultured has linked up with Meiji, Japan’s largest chocolate company, which will see the startup’s cell-cultured cocoa products appear in packaged goods by the latter.

The partnership is headlined by a 10-year-long deal for the supply of California Cultured’s Flavanol Cocoa Powder to Meiji as part of a co-branded collaboration. “There is a progressively growing supply gap in the cocoa industry. This is the beginning of the future of chocolate,” said California Cultured founder and CEO Alan Perlstein. “It marks the first time cell-cultured chocolate will enter any market worldwide.”