Singapore approves cell-cultured chicken bites – who will be the first to try them?

21.08.2023 - 11:44 / theunconventionalgardener.com / guest

Header image courtesy of Eat Just

Words by Chris Bryant, University of Bath

Cultured meat made from animal cells without animal slaughter has been approved for sale for the first time. The approval, granted by the Singapore Food Agency to US food company Eat Just for their cultured “chicken bites”, is a watershed moment for the future of meat.

Unlike existing products, which imitate meat with plant-based ingredients, cultured meat will provide us with a new way to make the real thing. As well as avoiding animal slaughter, cultured meat could be key to addressing public health concerns linked to meat from animals and has just a fraction of the environmental impact of conventional meat. Although not quite as green as eating plants only, cultured meat may be a way to satiate our global appetite for animal meat without all the problems animal farming entails.

The technology has been in development for many years, with Nasa first experimenting with cultured meat in 2001. Over a decade later, in 2013, tasters tried the world’s first cultured meat hamburger at a press event in London. At that time the quality was rudimentary – tasters said that despite a distinctly meaty taste, the product lacked texture and especially fat, problems which the industry has since been working to address. More importantly perhaps, prohibitively high costs meant that commercialisation seemed a long way away – at the time, it was reported that the burger cost US$280,000.

Since then, scientists have made great strides to make cultured meat a reality. Millions of dollars in investment have poured into the dozens of cultured meat startups across Asia, Europe, and America. Scientists have overcome many technical barriers, from developing cell lines to