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Singapore will soon be home to the largest and first-ever facility producing lab-grown chicken meat in Asia.

S$61 million facility to open at JTC Bedok Food City

On June 10, GOOD Meat, the cultivated meat division under U.S. food technology company Eat Just, broke ground on the premises of the new S$61 million facility, located at JTC Bedok Food City.

The 30,000sq ft facility will open in the first quarter of 2023, and it will be able to produce "tens of thousands of pounds of meat from cells".

The facility will house the single-largest bioreactor in the cultivated meat industry to date. Around 50 researchers, scientists and engineers will be working in this facility.

The JTC Bedok Food City, where GOOD Meat's facility is located at, will become a "growing ecosystem" of sustainable food innovation and manufacturing companies.

"We are seeing a growing number of companies exploring innovative food solutions and believe that GOOD Meat’s presence will help catalyse new partnerships and synergies in alternative protein and other emerging innovative areas," said Assistant CEO of JTC’s Industry Cluster Group, Alvin Tan.

Strengthening food security

Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu, who was the guest of honour at the event, explained that the new facility will help shore up local food production and improve the resilience of Singapore's food security.

It will also contribute to Singapore's goal of producing 30 per cent of its own food by 2030, reducing reliance on imports and creating a buffer during supply disruptions, such as the export ban on fresh chicken from Malaysia.

GOOD Meat's facility will thus "further cement our position in the alternative protein space and our reputation as a food innovation hub," as well as expand the country's chicken options beyond fresh and frozen chicken to include cultured chicken, Fu said.

Cultured meat in Singapore

In 2020, Singapore was the first country is the world to approve the sale of cultured chicken meat with GOOD Meat's chicken bites.

GOOD Meat's cultured chicken meat, grown directly from chicken cells, was subsequently made available at the restaurant, 1880, soon after regulatory approval was received.

GOOD Meat is planning to submit an application for cultivated beef to the Singapore Food Agency by the end of 2022, CNA reported.

It will also work with more hawkers and restaurants in Singapore to make cultivated chicken dishes, and the company is currently talking to supermarkets about selling their products there.

Eat Just Co-Founder and CEO Josh Tetrick said the company is expanding large-scale production, conducting additional research and development activities, and considering the export of GOOD Meat products across Asia, subject to regulatory approval.

Top photo from GOOD Meat