Israeli food technology company Celleste Bio has partnered with Mondelez International to create the world's first chocolate bars made with cell-cultured cocoa butter. Through their proprietary cell suspension culture technology, they are able to produce bio-identical cocoa butter that matches the texture, melt profile, and sensory characteristics of conventionally sourced material. This innovative approach allows them to scale cocoa production beyond agricultural limits, with the ability to produce enough cocoa butter for a chocolate bar from a single cocoa bean.

Despite their advancements in technology, Celleste Bio emphasizes that their aim is to supplement traditional cocoa farming rather than replace it. By developing AI-assisted computational modeling, they are able to customize cocoa butter properties to specific production requirements. With a goal to achieve market-ready production quantities within the next two years, the company acknowledges that regulatory approvals for cell-cultured food ingredients will be necessary before commercial sales can proceed.