Halal cell-based meat: Singapore’s Fatwa Committee approves Muslim consumption

06 Feb 2024 --- The Fatwa Committee of the Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura (MUIS) has announced that the consumption of cultivated meat is permissible as halal under certain conditions. The decision opens up a market of over two billion halal consumers worldwide, representing about 25% of the world’s population.

The fatwa comes at the heels of the approval of cultivated chicken meat sales by the Singapore Food Agency (SFA), which led to the MUIS reviewing the permissibility of cultivated meat for Muslim consumption.

“This [decision] will be essential for any future plans for the halal certification of cultivated meat, to facilitate Muslim consumers making their own informed choice whether to consume such products, based on their dietary preferences,” says the MUIS.

The landmark development was announced at a two-day conference titled “Fatwa in Contemporary Sciences,” held in Singapore by the MUIS from February 2–3.

Industry reacts: “Novelty to norm?”
Halal certifications will play a crucial role in expanding the market for cultivated meat, an Upside Foods spokesperson tells Food Ingredients First.

The announcement brings good news for consumers who are willing to try cultivated meat if it complies with Islam’s halal requirement (Image credit: Omeat).The move will “empower the industry to increase its positive impact and enable more consumers to choose sustainable and humane options for their meat consumption.”

Meanwhile, Mirte Gosker, managing director of the Good Food Institute APAC, notes that with more than a billion people around the world adhering to halal food standards, “for cultivated meat to make the leap from novelty to the norm, it is crucial that there are viable pathways to achieve this certification.”

“Building a truly inclusive, efficient and secure protein production system requires making high-quality, nutrient-rich and culturally relevant foods available to every facet of society. With MUIS’s precedent-setting announcement, Singapore is bringing that bold vision one step closer to reality.”

The move aligns with a panel of Sharia scholars in Saudi Arabia who ruled last year that cell-based meat can meet halal standards after examining the process of making the chicken. 

Analyzing religious positioning
To determine its stance on cultivated meat production, the committee examined three interrelated aspects — the process and source of the meat, the methods of production and the ingredients used.

Following careful studies of existing literature on novel food and consultation with various stakeholders, industry players and scientists, the Fatwa Committee concluded that the following conditions must be fulfilled to ensure that cultivated meat is halal for consumption.

i. Cell source must be taken from animals that are halal to consume: Cells obtained from animals such as pigs or those that the Shariah forbids are not permissible.

ii. Every ingredient that makes up the texture and composition of cultivated meat must be halal: This includes the stem cells harvested, the medium for cell reproduction and any food additives used in the production process.

iii. Product is non-toxic and clean

The committee examined the methods of production of cultivated meat, the process and source of the meat and the ingredients used (Image credit: Upside Foods).As of now, no cell-based meat products fulfill the MUIS’s guidelines. But the announcement brings good news for consumers who are willing to try the cultivated meat if it complies with Islam’s halal requirements. Cell-based meat formulators also stand to benefit from the guidance that might help them tick halal certification boxes in the future.

“Beneficial is permissible”
The fatwa on cultivated meat is underpinned by the Islamic principles that it serves to preserve human life and protect the environment. It also considers the Islamic legal principle that unless proven otherwise, whatever is beneficial is permissible.

The committee also recognizes the global impetus for alternative, sustainable food solutions. 

“While still currently in the developmental stage, with the eventual emergence of novel foods, it is necessary to have a clear religious position early on the permissibility of consumption of such foods,” underscores the MUIS.

A halal certification aims to provide greater assurance to Muslim consumers that a particular food product is halal to be consumed. For halal-certified cultivated meat, Singapore Muslims can choose whether to consume it or not. 

“Actual Muslim consumer acceptance of cultivated meat will also depend on other considerations like personal dietary preferences, taste and cost,” says the committee.

Alternative, sustainable food solutions such as cultivated meat could be justified with their expected environmental benefits.However, based on “From Lab to Table: Novel Food from an Islamic Perspective,” a report by the MUIS, it needs to develop guidelines on the halal certification of cultivated meat before any product can be halal-certified. At present, any halal-certified cultivated meat produced in Singapore would be only for local sale and consumption. 

Meanwhile, export would only be possible if regulatory frameworks for cultivated meat are in place in those export markets, such as the US, which has approved the domestic sale of cultivated meat. Examples include Upside Foods and Good Meat, which received landmark regulatory clearance for cultivated chicken sales last year.

Ethics and meat
The F&B industry has been in talks with religious authorities over how modern cultivation can be merged with ancient traditions and rituals ever since the first lab-grown beef burger was unveiled in 2013 as a possible solution to pressing problems in global food production.

With the onset of sales of cultivated meat products in the market, consumers turned to religious authorities for answers on whether cell-based meat products will ever be accepted as Halal or Kosher. Developers continue to “actively engage” with Halal and Kashrut agencies to determine how to make their products suitable for religious consumers, SuperMeat’s head of business development, Osnat Shostak, previously told Food Ingredients First.

A key ethical concern for formulators is Fetal Bovine Serum (FBS) — harvested from bovine fetuses taken from pregnant cows during their mutual slaughter and has been instrumental in formulating cell-cultured meat for a long time. Various innovators are tackling the issue, such as Omeat, which has developed a nutrient-rich cell culture supplement as an ethical replacement for FBS.

According to a fatwa issued by the Fatwa Committee of Singapore on January 19, 2023, the production of alternative proteins is a necessity (al-ḥājah) in today’s world. While there may currently be an abundance of food sources, investing in alternative protein sources now may help society better prepare for a more sustainable food future, as per the MUIS.

Last year the Orthodox Union approved Super Meat's chicken cell line for Kosher certification (Image credit: Super Meat).A significant overlap of religious dietary standards and advanced food technology came last year when the Orthodox Union — the world’s largest kosher certification agency — approved the chicken cell line of Super Meat.

Meanwhile, the MUIS’s stand on insect protein is favorable, stating that protein produced from insects is halal, since the production process is similar to the “istiḥālah method” — a chemical transformation that alters the composition and properties of a substance. When a substance no longer retains its original characteristics due to this process, its use is permissible, provided the final product does not contain any harmful elements.

In other regions, cricket and grasshopper products have gained halal certifications for human consumption in some markets like Indonesia. The UAE, on the other hand, considers all insects except for locusts non-halal.

By Insha Naureen