Singapore has given a go-signal to produce the world's first clean meat. This meat does not come from slaughtered animals; instead, it is lab manufactured.
This decision will pave the way for Eat Just, a San Francisco-based startup, to sell lab-grown chicken meat instead of a farm-raised and slaughtered chicken. The lab-made meat will be used in nuggets, but Eat Just has not said when they will become available for purchase.
Lab-made chicken meat
The demand for alternatives to regular meat has increased these past few years because of consumer health, animal welfare, and the environment.
According to Barclays, the market for organic meat could be worth around $140 billion within the next ten years. That is 10 percent of the $1.4 trillion global meat industry.
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Plant-based meat alternatives like Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat are increasingly found on restaurant menus and supermarket shelves.
However, Eat Just's meats are different because it is not plant-based; instead, it is grown from animal muscles raised in a lab, according to CNBC.
Eat Just called their product a breakthrough for the global food industry, and they hope that other countries will slowly follow suit. Over the past ten years, dozens of startups have tried to bring cultured meat to the market, hoping they can win over consumers looking for alternatives with the promise of a better and ethical product.
Two of the largest companies are Future Meat Technologies, based in Israel, and Memphis Meats, backed by Bill Gates. Both are trying to enter the global meat market with affordable and delicious lab-grown meats.
Challenges the company may face
Eat Just had called their product one of the most significant milestones in the food industry, but there are still challenges.
Lab-grown meat is much more expensive than plant-based products. Eat Just had stated that their chicken nuggets might cost around $50 each, according to BBC.
The chicken nuggets cost has since come down, but it will still be more expensive than regular chicken and plant-based nuggets.
Another challenge for Eat Just is the reaction of the consumers. However, Singapore's approval of the company's product will attract competitors to launch operations in the city, and it could also encourage other countries to approve it.
The Singapore Food Agency or SFA said that an expert working group reviewed the data on Eat Just's manufacturing control and its safety testing of the cultured chicken.
The SFA stated that the products were safe for consumption at the intended levels of use. It was also allowed to be sold in Singapore as an ingredient in the company's nuggets product.
The SFA also added that a regulatory framework for novel food was put in place to ensure that cultured meat and other alternative protein products meet the safety standards before they are distributed and sold in Singapore.
According to Eat Just, antibiotics were not used in the process, and the chicken also had lower microbiological content than conventional chicken.
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