SINGAPORE: After a brief slump shortly after the COVID-19 pandemic ended, the lab-grown meat industry in Singapore may be on the rise again, according to a Feb 25 report in CNBC.
The city-state has long been an innovator when it comes to alternative meat, having been the first country to allow the sale of lab-grown meat products in 2020, but the report noted that there has been a decline in both funding and interest since then.
Investor interest fell from US$922 million (S$1,248 million) in 2022 to US$226 million (S$306 million) in 2023. Moreover, Italy banned cultivated meat, as did Florida and Alabama in the US.
Singapore, however, has been determined to develop no-slaughter meat with animal cells grown in bioreactors and said in 2019 it would reduce its reliance on exports and locally produce 30% of its nutritional needs by 2030.
One of the strategies the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) has adopted as part of its “30 by 30” vision is to provide funding for innovative research projects in sustainable urban food production, including “future foods”, through the Singapore Food Story R&D Programme with its allotment of S$309 million.
For Singapore, innovations in lab-grown meat are also driven by concerns over food security since the city-state relies heavily on imports. Singapore, which imports most of its produce due to land scarcity, went big on the sector with generous funding for research and commercialization as it looked to boost food security.
Concerns over the price the environment has had to pay persist, with the United Nations saying that meat and dairy are responsible for about one-seventh of greenhouse gases across the globe.
CNBC noted that the sector has expanded of late, with one centre at the National University of Singapore funded by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos opening last September and new laboratories and test kitchens designed to support startups from Nurasa, a subsidiary of Temasek, opening as well. Investments in alternative protein sources in the Asia Pacific area also went up last year.
But not everything has gone smoothly for the sector, as lab-grown meat remains expensive, and there have not been enough repeat customers.
The report said that while high-tech meat alternatives have generated interest, there has also been a move to return to plant-based food. It cited the example of Jungle Kitchen, which started in 2023 and whose products are sold in Singapore, the United States, and Saudi Arabia.
The company uses jackfruit from Sri Lanka as a substitute for ground meat, and its seeds are used in masala stew. Jungle Kitchen will also soon be using the soy product tempeh from Indonesia in its products.
CNBC quoted Jungle Kitchen co-founder Surekha Yadav as saying, “We’ve seen a lot more engagement from customers looking for minimally processed, clean-label alternatives to conventional meat substitutes. In terms of alternative proteins, we believe that the future needs to look a lot like the past.” /TISG
Read also: Lab-grown meat to go on sale in Singapore in world first