Singapore becomes the first country in the world to approve cultured meat for the food supply chain. The American company Eat Just (San Francisco) has received the green light from the Singapore Food Agency to bring lab-grown chicken meat to the market.
This is the first time worldwide that a cultured meat product is allowed to be sold commercially. The Singapore Food Agency (SFA) published guidelines on Wednesday to ensure the safety of food innovations.
The cultured meat will initially be sold in restaurants as chicken nuggets, and later also in supermarkets, according to the Agricultural Network of the Dutch Embassy in Singapore.
Cultured meat is meat developed in laboratories from animal cells. Eat Just from San Francisco is already known for its plant-based egg substitutes.
The cultured chicken in Singapore is produced at the Food Innovation and Resource Centre, a food research institution jointly managed by Singapore Polytechnic and Enterprise Singapore.
Singapore relies on imports for more than 90 percent of its food supply. Due to the global coronavirus pandemic, the country has decided to meet 30 percent of its own food production needs by 2030. This is also one of the reasons why Eat Just chose Singapore as the first location to launch its product.