World’s first retail sales of cultivated meat announced in Singapore
The historic milestone means customers in the country will be able to buy and cook at home cultivated meat - real meat that’s made from cells instead of slaughtered animals.
Credit: GOOD Meat
The world’s first retail sales of cultivated meat have begun in a historic moment for the food industry.
Cultivated meat company GOOD Meat, which produces real meat made from cells instead of slaughtered animals, has announced it is now selling its cultivated chicken at a butcher shop in Singapore.
The product, named GOOD Meat 3, is being sold at a well-known Singapore-based meat supplier called Huber’s Butchery, marking the first time ever that cultivated meat is available for sale at retail, meaning shoppers can purchase the product and cook it at home.
The brand describes its GOOD Meat 3 product as a new, lower cost formulation that uses 3 percent cultivated chicken along with plant proteins to create the same taste, texture and experience as conventional chicken.
By using a smaller percentage of cultivated meat in combination with plant proteins, GOOD Meat says it is able to help reduce the costs associated with the production of cultivated meat.
High production costs have been one of the main challenges to the scaling up of the cultivated meat sector, but this hybrid approach can allow the products to be available on store shelves sooner while the industry continues to develop. The GOOD Meat 3 for sale at Huber’s Butchery is priced at $7.20 Singapore Dollar ($5.30 USD) for a 120 gram package.
“This is a historic day, for our company, for the cultivated meat industry, and for Singaporeans who want to try GOOD Meat 3,” said Josh Tetrick, co-founder and CEO of Eat Just, the parent company of GOOD Meat. “Before today, cultivated meat had never been available in retail stores for regular people to buy, and now it is.”
Where else will cultivated meat be sold?
Also known as cellular agriculture or lab-grown meat, cultivated meat production creates ‘real’ meat, but it is cultivated - grown - directly from animal cells, rather than a farmed animal. The innovative process is projected to become a key solution in creating a more sustainable and kind global food system by producing meat that sidesteps the environmental and ethical issues typically associated with industrial animal agriculture.
An example of GOOD Meat’s cultivated chicken. Credit: GOOD Meat
As the emerging field of cultivated meat continues to develop, countries and governments around the world must first issue regulatory approval to mark the cultivated foods as safe for human consumption.
Singapore has been leading the way for developing the cultivated meat industry, after becoming the first country in the world to grant regulatory approval back in 2020.
The US followed suit later in 2022, becoming the second country to grant approval when the California-based startup UPSIDE Foods received the green light from the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) for its chicken made from real animal cells. While it’s not for retail sale just yet, it has been showcased in the US at tasting events (see what Species Unite founder Elizabeth Novogratz thought here).
GOOD Meat’s cultivated chicken. Credit: GOOD Meat/Ana I. Martinez Chamorro
And earlier this year, Israel granted approval for food-tech company Aleph Foods to sell their cultivated steaks. Several other countries are said to be readying approvals in the coming year too.
Opponents of cultivated meat
However, despite much excitement around cultivated meat and how it could help solve the environmental impact and animal suffering involved in traditional meat production, it is also facing fierce opposition from some politicians.
Just last month, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis approved a bill to criminalize the sale of cultivated meat in the state.
“Let’s be clear: this law does not protect consumers”, cultivated meat company UPSIDE Foods said in a statement of DeSantis’ much-criticized move. “It is “food policing” to protect entrenched interests, defying free market principles and limiting consumer autonomy for a product the food safety experts at USDA and FDA have deemed safe.”
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