Singapore becomes first country to approve lab meat

The product, created from cultured chicken cells, was approved as an ingredient in chicken bites after approval by the Singapore Food Agency (SFA), Eat Just said on Tuesday.

Initially, the chicken bites will debut at a restaurant in Singapore, with plans for wider expansion into restaurants and retail stores nationwide, Josh Tetrick, co-founder and CEO of Eat Just told CNN. Business. The price of the product will be equal to that of premium chicken, he added.

“We have been eating meat for hundreds, thousands of years, still needing to kill an animal in order to eat – until now,” he said.

Cultured meat is created in a bioreactor – a device in which a biological reaction or change takes place – said Eat Just. It has a high protein content and is a rich source of minerals, according to the company, which plans to sell the product under the GOOD Meat brand.

For now, with manufacturing centers in Singapore and northern California, the company is only allowed to sell the meat in Singapore, but it hopes to expand sales of cultured meat – including cultured beef – in the United States and Western Europe, Tetrick said.

Eat Just already produces a range of non-animal products, including Just Egg, made from mung beans and vegan mayonnaise.

The trend towards meat substitutes and plant-based proteins, already growing in the United States, is also taking hold in Asia.

This year, despite the global economic turmoil triggered by the coronavirus pandemic, plant-based protein start-up Impossible Foods secured around half a billion dollars in new funding, with investments coming mostly from heavy investors in Asia.

Last month, California-based Beyond Meat unveiled a meatless ground ‘pork’ for launch in China, while Impossible launched its fake beef in supermarkets in Hong Kong and Singapore in October, hoping to ” expand its footprint across Asia.

Michelle Toh of CNN Business contributed reporting.