Singapore opens for sale of laboratory meat – E24

The American company Eat Just announced Wednesday that it had received approval from the city-state. Their chicken meat is grown in bioreactors from animal cells.

The company calls the news a breakthrough for the global meat industry, which is seeking ways to produce greener meat.

According to the main British bank Barclays, the market for meat alternatives will be worth 140,000 million euros, equivalent to 1,244 trillion crowns, over the next decade. That is equivalent to about a tenth of the world’s meat industry, writes the BBC.

Alternatives to meat are increasingly on store shelves, but are often plant-based, in contrast to Eat Just’s product, which is produced in the lab.

Large climate emissions

According to Eat Just, global meat consumption is expected to increase by 70% by 2050.

According to The Guardian, about 130 million chickens and 4 million pigs are slaughtered every day. Measured by weight, 60% of the planet’s mammals are livestock, 36% humans, and 4% wild animals.

Experts have often warned that increased meat consumption contributes to increased agricultural climate emissions. This is primarily because cows produce a large amount of methane, one of the most powerful greenhouse gases, as meat production often takes place in areas where CO2-retaining forests have been cut down.

But the small-scale production of laboratory meat requires a relatively large amount of energy and therefore also generates climate emissions. However, producers believe that large-scale production will provide opportunities to reduce emissions significantly. The use of water and land is assumed to be much less than in conventional meat production.

I think the price will go down

There has been concern about the price of laboratory meat, which is much more expensive to produce than plant-based meat substitutes.

An Eat Just spokesperson told AFP news agency that the product will initially be in the same price range as excellent quality chicken for a top-tier restaurant.

Later, the price is expected to be lower than that of regular chicken, he adds.

Eat Just expects the approval to be the first of many in Singapore and around the world.

Dozens of companies have tried to bring laboratory meat to the market, writes the BBC. Among the most important are Israel’s Future Meat Technologies and Memphis Meats, backed by Bill Gates.