Mondelēz, Celleste Bio create chocolate bars with cell-based cocoa butter

Mondelēz International has partnered with Israeli startup Celleste Bio to produce milk chocolate bars containing cell‑based cocoa butter. This is a first for lab‑grown chocolate bars in production.

Traditionally derived from cocoa bean farming, cocoa butter gives chocolate its rich texture. Yet global cocoa production faces challenges ranging from deforestation and supply chain volatility to crop disease and climate pressures. Technology is emerging as a critical solution.

  (Source: Celleste Bio)

Celleste Bio’s lab‑produced cocoa butter is designed as a sustainable solution, addressing industry concerns such as deforestation, greenhouse gas emissions, supply chain instability, and ethical sourcing. The process involves extracting cocoa cells from just one or two beans, then cultivating them continuously in bioreactors with water and nutrients to create bio‑identical cocoa butter without traditional farming. By combining agtech, biotech, and AI, Celleste can tailor properties such as melting point and flavor to client needs.

Remarkably, one to two beans can yield the same cocoa butter output that conventionally requires four tonnes of cocoa and 10,000 m² of farmland. Celleste Bio aims to be market‑ready by 2027, pending regulatory approvals in the US, UK, EU, and Israel, and has raised $5.6 million to date.

With the successful production of chocolate bars, Mondelēz and Celleste Bio demonstrate that lab‑grown cocoa butter can replicate conventional chocolate’s texture and taste, offering a scalable, sustainable solution to the cocoa industry’s supply chain and climate challenges. Beyond replication, lab‑grown cocoa butter could reduce dependence on conventional crops while ensuring a more consistent and resilient supply.