Belgian food manufacturer Ingredients company Puratos and West Sacramento-based food tech startup California Cultured have announced a collaboration to create chocolate made from lab-grown cocoa. The companies plan to bring the technology to commercial production by the end of 2026, reports Futurism.
The initiative was announced after cocoa prices hit their lowest level since early 2024 in November last year due to increased exports from Ivory Coast.
California Cultured explains that it uses samples of cocoa plants with the desired taste and aroma characteristics for production. After selection, the cells are separated and grown in special tanks with nutrient medium until there are enough of them for further chocolate production.
According to the company, this method is much faster than traditional cocoa cultivation. The startup’s website states that the required amount of tissue is formed in “days instead of months.”
“We directly grow the tissue that turns into chocolate,” explained California Cultured CEO Alan Pearlstein in a CNBC commentary in 2024.
At the same time, preparation for industrial production can take at least six months, and sometimes up to three years.
This project is one of many in the food industry aimed at finding alternatives to traditional cocoa. However, lab-grown chocolate faces a number of challenges, including regulatory requirements, consumer acceptance, and high production costs.
California Cultured has been seeking approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) since 2024. To enter the market, the product must receive a GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe) certificate, which confirms its safety.
In addition, the chocolate market is heavily reliant on big brands, which could impact consumers’ willingness to embrace the new technology. As of 2025, chocolate made from lab-grown cocoa is significantly more expensive than traditional chocolate due to the lack of large-scale production.
However, if commercially successful, the technology could have an impact on the global chocolate industry, which is estimated to be worth around $123 billion. Puratos sees cultivated cocoa as a “climate-neutral and sustainable complement to traditional cultivation” that could enhance the industry’s long-term sustainability.
However, the implications for farmers in the global south remain open. The cocoa industry has long been associated with issues of labor exploitation and human rights abuses, and the emergence of laboratory alternatives could both change the balance in this area and put a significant number of people out of work.
