Singapore has become the first country in the world to approve the sale of lab-grown meat. The country’s Food Agency have given the go-ahead to Eat Just, a US-based company that initially flourished because of their plant-based egg substitute, to sell its lab-grown chicken meat. It will be used in their chicken bites, which will only be sold in one restaurant initially as production ramps up.
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According to reports, Eat Just then plans to sell the meat directly to consumers through grocery stores and fresh food markets.
Lab-grown meat, or cultured meat, is different to plant-based alternatives like Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat products. Where the latter alternatives aim to mimic the taste and texture of real meat with plant material, lab-grown meat is actual meat that is created by using an animal’s muscle or fat and extracting stem cells. It is then put into a growth medium that supports the growth of the animal product like it would have grown on the live animal. Many believe this is the answer to our environmental concerns, as we would need to use vast amounts of land and water to grow the animals, and we wouldn’t need to be concerned about animal cruelty.
The CEO of Eat Just, Josh Tetrick, likened this process of ‘growing’ the meat to brewing beer, and the chicken product it delivers is both safe to eat and includes a high amount of protein and a diversified amino acid composition. Another advantage of the company’s manufacturing process is that there are no antibiotics used. According to Tetrick, the overuse of antibiotics in our scaled industrial farming efforts is turning into a ticking time bomb when it comes to human health. “We think that [the way] to really solve the meat problem — which is a health problem, a deforestation problem, a morality problem — is to make animal protein,” he added.
As you would imagine, there is a rigorous regulatory process to get this kind of product to market. Just Eat worked towards the final go-ahead for more than two years, a major part of which was to prove the manufacturing process is sustainable. Officials believe that although Singapore’s decision could encourage other countries to follow suit in approving lab-grown meat, it will likely still be many years until countries with massive farming infrastructure like the US and Australia approve it.
