Singapore invests tens of millions of USD in researching new food production methods due to limited land for agriculture and livestock farming.
Over the weekend, visitors to Huber’s Butchery in Singapore watched a chef sautéing tenderloin – 3% of the product derived from chicken cells and the remainder from plant protein – to create taco filling with avocado, pico de gallo (a spicy Mexican sauce), and cilantro, according to The New York Times.
From its shape and cooking method to its flavor, it resembles natural chicken. Sascha Wenninger (39) placed three packages of meat in his shopping cart. “I love eating meat. If it can be done without killing, that would be amazing,” he said.
Others, however, are less enthusiastic about this lab-grown meat. “Why eat something artificial when you can buy fresh chicken?” Philippe Ritoux (58) remarked.
In recent years, artificial meat has become a hot topic of interest and controversy in Singapore. The Southeast Asian nation has invested tens of millions of USD in researching new food production methods due to its limited agricultural land. Singapore imports up to 90% of its food supplies.
Delicious but Hard to Evaluate
Singapore became the first country to approve “cultivated meat” or “lab-grown meat” for commercial sale in 2020. Two years later, the U.S. also passed similar legislation, but Florida issued a ban in May.
The island nation has also greenlit future products, including a protein-rich powder synthesized from air and a mixture that does not require animal cells for lab-grown meat. Josh Tetrick, co-founder of Eat Just – the company behind the sale of artificial meat at Huber’s Butchery, stated: “Previously, lab-grown meat was purely in the realm of science fiction.”
Any success that Singapore achieves in this field could have global implications. However, many experts believe lab-grown meat cannot yet replace traditional meat or effectively reduce greenhouse gas emissions generated by livestock farming.
Huber’s Butchery sells lab-grown meat.
The price of 7.2 SGD (approximately 5.36 USD) for a 100-gram bag of artificial meat at Huber’s Butchery illustrates the high cost of production.
“There is a significant gap between our current scale and our goal. However, scaling up may not necessarily solve the problem,” Tetrick remarked.
Funding for startups producing lab-grown meat is gradually dwindling.
Before retail sales began, artificial meat in Singapore was only available at Huber’s Butchery restaurant. Starting in January 2023, Huber’s Butchery began selling sandwiches (with fries and salad) and pasta. Both dishes are priced at 18.5 SGD (13.76 USD) and are heavily subsidized by Eat Just’s subsidiary, Good Meat.
Last October, New York Times journalist Sui-Lee Wee tried the sandwich with fries. “The dish is delicious but hard to assess fully because the chicken is cut into small pieces and covered with a layer of mustard sauce,” she noted.
The chicken served at Huber’s Butchery consists of small cell samples. They are placed in temperature-controlled stainless-steel tanks known as “bioreactors” at a facility operated by the local company Esco Aster. The cells absorb a mixture of amino acids, fats, vitamins, and minerals – nutrients found in chicken feed. Once a significant number of cells are cultivated, they are harvested and processed with plant protein at Singapore’s Food Technology Innovation Center.
Most artificial meat is sold at high prices due to high production costs.
Andre Huber, CEO of Huber’s Butchery, initially disliked lab-grown meat. However, in September 2022, after trying Good Meat’s artificial chicken breast, he realized the texture “could be 80-90% similar to real chicken breast.”
“And the flavor is very distinct. I mean, it tastes like chicken, completely authentic,” he added.
However, in recent months, Huber’s Butchery has been unable to continue selling Good Meat’s products due to the company being embroiled in a legal dispute with a supplier.
Ambitious Goals
Singapore remains an attractive market for other companies. Didier Toubia, co-founder of Aleph Farms, a company producing lab-grown steak in Israel, stated that the company chose to produce beef due to the significant climate impact of cattle farming. Additionally, rising temperatures in some regions are reducing the reproductive capacity of cows.
In January, Aleph Farms – based in Rehovot – received approval from Israel to sell lab-grown steak. Time magazine described eating this type of steak as still having the usual flavor but “without the guilt.”
Aleph Farms announced it is soon to be allowed to sell lab-grown beef in Singapore. The company is even considering building a facility in Singapore and Thailand.
Lab-grown chicken.
After water, food has become Singapore’s next major concern. This issue gained heightened attention when Malaysia, one of Singapore’s largest food suppliers, banned chicken exports during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Singapore government is focusing its investments on producing alternative protein sources. In a research funding call, the Singapore Food Agency stated its “ambitious” goal is to reduce the cost of producing lab-grown meat from 120 USD/kg to 6-17 USD/kg by the end of this decade.
Dominic Chen, CEO of Esco Aster, a contract manufacturer of lab-grown meat, noted that they have received “very generous funding” from the Singapore government. He added that rental costs here are “very low, essentially free.”
Meatable, a Dutch company selling products like sausages, dumplings, and pork, plans to invest approximately 88 million USD in Singapore. Co-founder Daan Luining mentioned that Meatable can now grow pork in four days, whereas it typically takes eight months to raise a pig for meat.
Luining was one of the researchers who produced a lab-grown hamburger in 2013 at a cost of 325,000 USD. However, the product received lukewarm feedback, with its flavor compared to “a sweet bun made from animal protein.” Ten years ago, Luining could not have imagined the industry’s current advancements. “It has really come a long way,” he stated.
