For the first time, few Singaporean restaurants will serve chicken that has come from a bioreactor and not a farm.

Singapore has become the first country in the world to allow the sale of cultured meat by allowing US start-up Eat Just Inc. to sell its lab-grown meat in the country.

 Eat Just Inc., a maker of meat and egg substitutes, is renowned for its plant-based egg product Just Egg – made using a mung bean protein isolate.

Clean meat

The lab-grown meat, created from animal cells without the slaughter of any chickens, will roll out in Singapore under the GOOD Meat brand as a chicken nugget with breading and seasoning in a single restaurant.

The company is also working to scale production and bring the product to other restaurants – and eventually grocery stores.

While more launch details for the product will follow later, the food tech start-up previously said that each nugget will cost $50.

Growing demand

Demand for alternatives to regular meat is rising due to consumer concerns about health, animal welfare and the environment. Vegan brands Beyond Meat Inc and Impossible Foods have also contributed in popularizing plant-based meat options to traditional meat products.

Although Eat Just chose to focus on chicken in its early research and development, it is also developing cultivated beef; and plans to submit its application for lab-created beef in Singapore during the first half of next year.

‘Forward thinking’

“We want Singapore to be the focus of our manufacturing globally,” Eat Just CEO Josh Tetrick said in an interview.

“They’re just really forward thinking in building an enabling environment for this kind of work.”

On a global platform, more than two dozen firms are testing lab-grown fish, beef and chicken, in a bid to capitalize this nascent alternative meat market, which is projected to be worth $140 billion by 2029.

• Read: Cultured Meat: UK Scientists have joined the global race to grow lab-grown bacon

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Mohsina Dodhiya

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