Why Singapore is the world capital of cell-grown food technologies

Singapore has become a global hotspot for the alternative protein industry. It is the main center for alternative proteins in Asia and the only country in the world that allows the sale of cell-based proteins. This exclusivity allows it to lead a global campaign to attract international investors to what is still a small industry, but which, without a doubt, is set to experience sustained growth in the coming years.

Being a country of 728.6 km², in which 5,500 million people live, the lack of space to consolidate their own food crops obtained in natural environments prompted them to take cell-grown food technologies as a concrete alternative to satisfy, at least partially, at his own request.

Back in 2020, the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) approved Eat Just’s cell-grown chicken, making the country the first in the world to give its go-ahead. for sale of meat created in a laboratory.

And Esco Aster began operations at its commercial facility in Singapore in 2021. The facility, located at Ayer Rajah Crescent, produces chicken products through cell culture rather than slaughter. On July 28 of that year, it received SFA approval and began producing cell-grown chicken, what was a world first.

The phenomenon shows a number of companies setting up shop in Singapore to develop and launch animal-free alternatives to traditional meat products. The Asian country has come to take this dimension in the global market after having planned and executed it, considering that it imports most of its food, and that supposes a weakness that makes its position more complex in the face of logistical and food crises such as the one that the War is producing. of Russia in Ukraine or facing the impact of climate change, especially as it threatens global marine ecosystems.

And because of its traditional diet, like most Asian countries, Singapore is a large consumer of seafood products, so the situation presents an opportunity for the promotion of alternative food sources, obviously, beyond singapore. In 2019 in South Korea the consumption of fish and seafood per person was 49 kilos, in Japan it reached 46 and in China it reached 38 kilos, according to the World Economic Forum. So the market that Singapore can supply is gigantic.

the lack of space to consolidate their own food crops grown in natural environments prompted them to turn to cell-grown food technologies

Hence, the City-State is also leading a strong campaign to allow, regulate, and ultimately normalize the commercial sale of seafood farmed within its territory.

This is the situation. And looking ahead, increasing urbanization and affluence in parts of Asia and Africa are looming to lead to increased demand for protein, and animal protein in particular: only in Asia consumption of meat and seafood will increase 33% by 2030 and 78% between 2017 and 2050.

It is expected that by 2050 the world population will have increased by 2,000 or 3,000 million inhabitants, which will probably double the demand for food, according to various studies. This will contribute to the higher standard of living of many people, who will consume more, especially meat.

So, to address the looming food gap, it is necessary to have complementary sources of protein, from plants to cells.

What is this method of food production?

Basically, when we talk about the cellular method, we refer to the growing meat directly from cells. This process is gaining strength in a context in which human beings eat more than twice as much as in 1960, while the transport of products requires logistics that generate large greenhouse gas emissions. For this reason, the food industry views with interest the development of alternative sources of food production, due to the number of risks that currently involve the natural sources of their production, given the need to feed millions of people daily.

Cells are the building blocks of all kinds of life. By farming them to produce animal meat, including fish and shellfish, animal husbandry and slaughter can be avoided. To produce this meat, stem cell samples are initially taken from the animals through a painless biopsy. These cells are fed with nutrients in large vats, also known as cultivators, where they multiply and differentiate. As they grow, they turn into muscle tissue, which is the main component of meat.

Different techniques for cultured meat production include scaffold-based technique, self-organization technique, cell culture media, and others. The self-organization technique is used for the production of complex structures in cultured meat products. The production of complex structures such as steak requires the production of three-dimensional tissue using explants of animal tissue.

Another of the most common processes of growing food directly from cells is called precision fermentation. Single-celled organisms, such as yeast, are used to produce a specific protein using a carbon source, such as sugars or, in the case of solein, gases, and nitrogen as key ingredients. The technique is being used by firms like Perfect Day to make dairy proteins of non-animal origin.

The phenomenon shows a number of companies setting up shop in Singapore to develop and launch animal-free alternatives to traditional meat products.

Mirte Gosker, managing director of Good Food Institute (GFI) Asia Pacific, a Singapore-based non-profit organization, explains that threats to seafood supplies present an auspicious time for farmed protein. “It’s just a smarter way to make meat,” she told Bloomberg in November 2022. And in that note, the executive emphasized that Asian markets play a central role in this change: “Of the 10 countries that eat the most fish, seven are in Asia, creating an ocean of opportunity for alternative seafood developers.”

What was the development plan?

Singapore’s rise in the alternative protein sector is partly due to geography. The island spans just over 700 square kilometers, and less than 1% of that area is farmland. The City State relies on imports for more than 90% of its food, leaving it vulnerable to shortages and price inflation.

In light of the “imminent crisis” of climate change, the government has been looking at food security with particular interest. As a result, it has established a “30 by 30” strategy: the goal of producing 30% of its nutritional needs locally and sustainably by 2030.

The strategy focuses on increasing the production of fruits, vegetables and eggs, but has also invested in alternative proteins in anticipation of future demand, promoting companies with infrastructure and start-up funds.

There are around 11 cell farming companies working in Singapore, including Shiok Meat, which is developing farmed shrimp, crab and lobster, and Good Meat. Additionally, there are 17 international manufacturers selling plant-based protein products, including Beyond Meat and Impossible. Meanwhile, the presence of new companies in the sector increases with the arrival of TiNDLE and OmniFoods.

Milestones

• Singapore is the first country to develop a regulatory framework for bringing cultured meat to market. The Future Ready Food Safety Hub it was opened to help companies navigate the approval process;
• It is the only country where “all three pillars of alternative proteins” (plant-based, fermentation-enabled, and cultured) are sold commercially;
• It is the first country to have approved the commercial sale of cultured meat, in the form of chicken nuggets and chicken breast produced by Good Meat, a subsidiary of the US firm. Eat Just;
• In October 2022, it became the first country to approve the commercial sale of solein, developed by Solar Foods of Finland. It is a yellowish powder, obtained from microbes that feed on gases (carbon dioxide, hydrogen and oxygen) and nutrients. It is used in meat preparations, breads, and plant-based spreads;
• To the surprise of many, at the COP27 summit (United Nations Conference on Climate Change), which was held in Egypt in November last year, the Singapore pavilion distributed samples of cultivated meat. It was a marketing action that demonstrated the importance of this industry today. But it also sought to bring the idea closer to people from countries that share a similar problem, and who may be interested in supporting related initiatives.
• The main players in the world’s food industry met in November last year in Singapore for the Asia-Pacific Agri-Food Innovation Summit.

The size of the cultured meat market is estimated to be will be worth $352.4 million by 2028. Different sources of cultured meat include seafood, duck, beef, poultry, pork, and others. And the poultry segment is expected to account for the largest segment due to its simplified cell structure and ease of production compared to other cultured meats.

Although, as I clarified above, this is still a developing phenomenon, if we compare it with the dimension of the production of foods of natural origin such as beef. However, there are enough elements to consider the importance of agri-food technology in the face of the challenges posed by this new time that the Covid-19 pandemic inaugurated.

Cultured meat, which has been touted as an environmentally sustainable alternative to conventional animal meat, has yet to go mainstream. Likewise, products of plant origin have yet to reach price parity with their conventional versions, such as meat of animal origin, which is much cheaper.

In addition, most cells grown in the laboratory are fed a growth medium, often fetal bovine serum (FBS), whose production is highly regulated, in limited supply, and exorbitantly expensive. Although the truth is that it is possible to produce plant-based proteins, which would save Singapore having to import FBS, reducing its reliance on foreign supply, while the future of Singapore’s burgeoning protein industry may be a mix of animal cells and vegetables.

Meanwhile, investment flows pFor new food technology and agricultural technology companies from Asia Pacific reached US$5.3 billion in the first half of 2022. Better Bite Ventures launched a US$15 million fund, including an initial portfolio of ten Asia-Pacific start-ups, leveraging plant-based and cellular agriculture technologies to create climate-friendly meat, dairy, egg and food products . seafood alternatives. and in india India’s first major consumer goods company, ITC, announced a raid in the burgeoning space with alternative-to-meat offerings, including plant-based burgers and nuggets.

For this reason, although large-scale sales have not yet arrived, the opportunity is being built day by day, while the industry and consumption continue to be defined.