Lab-grown chocolate: The next generation

Chocolate, but make it sci-fi

A few months ago, I was presented with the opportunity to taste lab-grown chocolate from California Cultured. And I’ll be honest… I wasn’t expecting much. Novelty, maybe. A hint of “science experiment” in the aftertaste. But you know what I got instead? Just chocolate. Delicious, familiar, melt-in-your-mouth chocolate. If someone hadn’t told me it was grown in a vat, I would’ve just thought it was normal chocolate chips. That was my first thought.

Sure, I’m no professional taster. I don’t go around dissecting mouthfeel or hunting for fruity undertones. But as an average chocolate consumer with a functioning tongue for the basics, I can confirm: lab-grown chocolate is the real deal.

My second thought was that this stuff is basically a baby step towards the replicator: that Star Trek miracle box that lets you summon food and drink reconstituted from molecules in the air (and a bunch of other things, depending on the spin-off). 

Tea, Earl Grey, hot? Sure. 

Chocolate sundae? Why not? 

Still, I get the hesitation. The phrase “lab-grown” sends some people running for their organic, gluten-free, ethically-sourced hills. “Frankenstein food,” they mutter. But here’s the thing: we’re heading into a future where cocoa might be too scarce, too expensive, or too unethical to keep indulging in the real thing the way we do today. 

If we want to keep eating chocolate like it’s 2023 (when cocoa prices were a quarter of early 2025), we might need to start thinking like it’s 2323.

What is lab-grown chocolate, really?

I will use any excuse to bust out Star Trek trivia, but lab-grown food is just science fiction edging into science fact. If you think about it, chocolate may even be the gateway drug to the more contentious lab-grown meat and dairy products. Necessity is the mother of invention, after all. Once you’ve accepted it in one category, it’s easier to make the switch in other categories. Maybe the lab-grown meat guys should be directing investments to the lab-grown chocolate guys… there’s a thought.

So, what is lab-grown chocolate? 

Like traditional chocolate, it starts with real cocoa beans. Scientists extract a few prized cells – usually the ones with all the flavor potential – and grow them in bioreactors, feeding them a nutrient-rich broth of sugar, vitamins, and minerals. After a few weeks of careful nurturing and some fermentation voodoo, what you get isn’t an imitation. You get actual cocoa, that’s eventually dried, roasted, and ground like regular cocoa to make chocolate. 

But is it chocolate-chocolate? Legally, not yet. But scientifically? Pretty much. The only thing standing in its way is a tangled mix of regulatory hurdles, scale-up challenges, and the fact that no one knows if consumers will actually bite.

Why lab-grown chocolate matters

We’ve talked about this a fair bit, I don’t feel up to litigating these issues again. So let’s just leave it at:

• Ridiculously high cocoa prices

• Over-dependence on just a couple of growing areas

• Farmers not interested 

• Climate change and its impacts

• Dirty footprint, ethically and environmentally (child labor, deforestation, emissions, etc.)

Heavy metal surprises

But there is one thing we haven’t talked about before: that traditional chocolate can have a fair amount of heavy metals. Cocoa plants, through no fault of their own, are excellent at absorbing cadmium and lead from the soil, especially in regions where soil contamination is high. Even more so for organic crops. And these metals don’t just vanish during processing.

A study published in 2024 examined 72 dark chocolate products in the US to see whether they contained lead, cadmium, or arsenic. It was found that 43% of the products had more than acceptable levels of lead and 35% had higher than allowed levels of cadmium, based on California’s Prop 65 safety regulations which set maximum allowable dose levels for heavy metals in food. The US FDA doesn’t set limits on heavy metals in most foods. 

The European Food Safety Authority has set three maximum levels for cadmium content in chocolate. The most stringent levels are for chocolate varieties mostly eaten by children. The darker the chocolate, the higher the maximum levels are. A fourth maximum level is set for cocoa powder for direct consumption. 

Lab-grown cocoa dodges this issue. Since it’s cultivated in sterile, soil-free bioreactors, there’s no heavy metal contamination to worry about – or deforestation and child labor, for that matter.

Real healthy customization

But lab-grown cocoa isn’t just about removing the bad stuff. It could potentially even add some of the good stuff.

Flavanols, the polyphenols found in dark chocolate, have been linked to improved cardiovascular health, cognitive function, and reduced inflammation. But traditional cocoa’s flavanol levels depend on the bean, the region, and how it’s processed.

In lab settings, you can dial that up. Cocoa powder rich in flavanols or a specific antioxidant profile – that can be made part of the design brief. California Cultured, for instance, already has a “Flavanol Cocoa Powder”. 

So, you could have chocolate that’s heart-healthy, brain-friendly, and traceable down to the molecule. This is the kind of “clean label” that food companies dream about. And for consumers, especially those who care about both their health and the planet, it’s an easy yes.

Like what you’re reading?

The lab-grown landscape: Who are the main players? 

Relax, purists, the chocolate aisle still belongs to legacy brands, but a handful of biotech startups have been working on cell-based chocolate options. 

California Cultured (USA)

California Cultured, based in West Sacramento, is pioneering the production of lab-grown chocolate by cultivating cocoa cells in fermentation tanks. They've been successful enough to attract the attention of Meiji, Japan's largest chocolate company, which will incorporate California Cultured’s chocolate in its own products, including in nutraceutical, chocolate, and better-for-you snacks. The two companies have entered into a 10-year commercial partnership for CC’s Flavanol Cocoa Powder. This collaboration may be the first time cell-cultured chocolate will enter any market worldwide.

In addition, CC is also pursuing the self-GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) designation from the FDA, with product launches expected in late 2024. The new US administration is looking at eliminating the self-affirmed GRAS pathway, and I’m curious how this will impact CC.

Food Brewer (Switzerland)

Zurich-based Food Brewer was founded in 2021 and it sources the beans it uses as its cell culture from Latin America. After sourcing the beans, the company looks for optimal cells in terms of taste profile, aroma, and growth profile, which is central to future scalability. The company is also looking for non-tropical alternatives to fat to replace the traditional cocoa butter, and is working on cultivating microalgae fat.

The company’s plans to scale up production includes retrofitting brewing facilities or partnering with clients, and is looking at large-scale plants with 50,000-liter bioreactors. The company is focused on getting GRAS certification in the US and expects a US entry to be faster than getting through EFSA’s novel food approval. 

Food Brewer has also teamed up with Fruitful AI to use advanced algorithms to track plant cell growth using controlled images. It has also partnered with German machine builder Steinecker to incorporate its bioreactor technology into its platform.

Celleste Bio (Israel)

Israeli startup Celleste Bio’s says that it can create 1 ton of cocoa butter from a single cocoa pod. Its cocoa products are not yet commercially available, but the company is looking at producing cocoa butter at around US$7,000 a ton and cocoa powder at US$3,000 per ton by 2027, looking to achieve price parity with pre-2024 prices for cocoa.

Kokomodo (Israel)

Kokomodo is another Israeli startup developing cell-based cocoa for use in food, beverage, supplements, and cosmetics. The startup was founded in 2024, emerging from two years in stealth mode from a joint venture between The Kitchen FoodTech Hub and Plantae Bioscience. Kokomodo extracts cells from premium cacao beans grown in Central and South America. 

Big chocolate is betting on the bioreactors 

Traditional chocolate makers are scrambling to manage volatile cocoa prices and sustainability PR crises, a growing number of investors and legacy brands are placing calculated bets on lab-grown cocoa. These may be hedging strategies, but if lab-grown cocoa gets the regulatory green light and tastes “close enough”, it could soften the blow of climate-induced shortages, not to mention clean up those ESG report cards. 

Here’s how the big guys are getting involved with lab-grown chocolate:

This isn’t just hype…

This isn’t a repeat of the plant-based meat bubble. Chocolate has:

• A global addiction problem (the retail market alone is worth over US$140 billion)

• Fewer viable substitutes (you think carob is going to cut it?)

• Stricter sustainability laws on the horizon (EUDR-linked import bans)

The challenges 

Lab-grown chocolate has all the right enemies: climate change, deforestation, child labor, and heavy metals. But it still needs its defining moment, bringing together allies across production, policy, and perception. Here’s what’s standing in the way for lab-grown chocolate:

1. Scaling is hard 

Producing cocoa in bioreactors works well in pilot batches, but scaling to industrial volumes without losing quality or going bankrupt is a major hurdle. Cell growth can be slow, nutrient media is expensive, and bioreactors need to be fine-tuned for consistent biomass.
California Cultured says it can produce cocoa in under a week; Food Brewer is using semi-continuous production. But turning that into tons of cocoa, not grams, is the billion-dollar challenge.

2. Regulatory trip-ups

The EU’s Novel Food framework is notorious for being a labyrinth. Approval for any lab-grown food could take 3-5 years or more. The US is faster, thanks to its self-affirmed GRAS pathway, but this may also be in limbo right now, what with the new administration seeing it as a loophole to be plugged. 

Japan may be friendlier, especially with Meiji leading the charge, but official guidelines on cell-cultured plants are still evolving.

3. The ‘ick’ factor 

The term “lab-grown” doesn’t exactly offer up visions of indulgence, even though taste tests suggest the products are indistinguishable in flavor from the real thing. And then there’s the question of whether it’s bioengineered/genetically modified (which it may not be). Perception can kill adoption.

4. Cost is still a question

Cocoa prices are currently up 3-4X, which helps lab-grown cocoa seem more competitive, but only for now. Prices of cocoa have already fallen by about 30% since it peaked in 2024, with all the tariff uncertainties and increased production forecasts. Until input costs (like nutrient media, bioreactors, and R&D) drop significantly, lab-grown chocolate will be a premium product, not a solution for mass-market candy bars.

5. Don’t forget the farmers 

One thing that isn’t being addressed head-on is what happens to the millions of smallholder farmers who depend on cocoa for their livelihoods. The companies speak about the carbon footprint, low wages, and child labor, but not about the loss of livelihood. 

It’s incredibly important to highlight that the goal of lab-grown chocolate isn’t to eliminate cocoa farming altogether, but to de-risk the global supply chain by blending traditional and lab-grown sources. But without a just transition plan for producers, the social sustainability question lingers.

The Chocolate Survival Guide

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