More cell-cultured chicken products approved for sale in Singapore
SINGAPORE – Alternative-protein lovers have something new to “peck” at, after Singapore on Thursday (Dec 16) approved the sale of more cultivated meat products.
The move comes a year after it became the world’s first country to allow meat without slaughter to be sold. Californian start-up Eat Just’s Good Meat division received approval last December from the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) to sell bite-sized chicken nuggets that were created by culturing animal cells.
They were sold at 1880 Singapore, a social club at InterContinental Singapore.
On Thursday, the company received approval to sell new types of cultivated chicken products – including chicken breast – at JW Marriott Hotel Singapore South Beach next week.
The chicken breast will also be made available at some hawker centre stalls, including Loo’s Hainanese Curry Rice in Tiong Bahru.
Good Meat has committed to increasing its investment to produce cultivated meat in Singapore, including the design and manufacture of equipment and systems, with a target for operation within the next two years.
Thursday’s approval is part of Singapore’s aims to produce 30 per cent of its nutritional needs locally by 2030.
Alternative proteins are considered more sustainable than traditional meat products, as large volumes of plant-based or cell-cultured foods can be produced involving less land and labour.
More firms here are entering the emerging field of alternative proteins amid growing global consciousness about the carbon footprint of rearing livestock for food, which produces about 15 per cent of all global greenhouse gas emissions, according to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation.
Over the past two years, more than 15 alternative-protein start-ups have set up base in Singapore, The Straits Times reported in April this year.
With the ramping up of production in the next two years, Good Meat expects to hire more engineers, scientists and other manufacturing professionals to run its facility and expand its business.
The Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment said last year that there could be 55,000 new and upgraded jobs in the green economy over the next decade, with agri-tech being one of the key sectors.