Singapore reigns supreme on cultivated meat regulation as tech leaders edge toward commercialization

01 Feb 2023 --- Singapore has hit another cultivated meat milestone by approving Good Meat’s use of serum-free media to produce lab-grown chicken for human consumption. The Singapore Food Agency’s (SFA) approval advances the country’s trailblazing support for cell-based meat and leaves the US and Europe playing catch up on the regulatory front. 

Good Meat – a division of US food tech firm Eat Just – recognizes its serum media-free cultivated chicken and the SFA’s market approval as a technical and regulatory breakthrough that will boost the scalability of its products and lower manufacturing costs.

The technology also helps decouple cell-cultured meat from its reliance on fetal bovine serum for products that are “truly slaughter-free.”

Despite cultivated meat’s environmental sustainability and animal welfare benefits, Singapore remains the only country in the world where consumers can purchase lab-grown products. The SFA granted Eat Just world-first regulatory approval to sell its cultivated chicken in December 2020.

In conversation with cell-based meat leaders Mosa Meat and Aleph Farms and the Future Ready Food Safety Hub (Fresh) – a partnership between the SFA, the Agency for Science, Technology and Research and Nanyang Technological University – FoodIngredientsFirst explores how Singapore is creating the conditions for cultivated meat to flourish and why other regions are working to establish similar regulatory frameworks.

Delivering emotional connections
While studies increasingly link animal meat production to unsustainable greenhouse gas emissions, the UN Food & Agriculture Organisation estimates that meat consumption will grow by 70% by 2050. Notably, China is turning to high-rise pig farms to meet its surging demand for pork.Fresh acts as a catalyst for market regulatory approval with expertise in scientific platforms such as food toxicology and risk assessment science.

With a production process that uses less land, water and energy, cultivated meat firms can appeal to the growing mindful consumer base with sustainability claims but also to carnivores with lab-grown products that taste, look and feel like slaughtered meat.

Both Mosa Meat and Aleph Farms are focusing on cell-cultured beef products, as conventional beef is known to have the greatest planetary impact of all meat products. However, replicating conventional meat in a lab presents technical barriers.

“Mosa Meat is taking on the tough challenge of growing fully matured muscle and fat to create a burger that hardcore carnivores would be happy to eat. We are also bringing down costs by removing expensive animal components and scaling up our process to production levels,” says Maarten Bosch, the Dutch firm’s CEO.

Likewise, Didier Toubia, co-founder and CEO at Israeli innovator Aleph Farms, recognizes that consumers need to connect with their food on an emotional level, especially when transitioning to futuristic lab-grown meat.

“Cultivated meat incorporates the same amino acids as conventional meat, so similar reactions occur during cooking – our thin-cut beef steak is tender and juicy, and that’s a must for diners,” he explains.

“We are taking steps to drive economies of scale and achieve price parity with conventional meat products, including developing specific technological modules in our production platform and establishing strategic agreements across our supply chains.”

Securing food safety and security
In Singapore, regulatory support for cultivated meat has developed rapidly in part due to the government's proactive approach to food security. As an island nation with limited land and resources, the country currently imports over 90% of its food, leaving it vulnerable to supply chain disruptions and geopolitical uncertainties.Mosa Meat is targeting regulatory approval to bring its lab-grown beef to consumers in the next few years.

In 2019, the SFA announced its “30 by 30” food security goal to produce 30% of the nation’s nutritional needs locally by 2030, which includes regulatory support for cultivated meat.

“However, we cannot have food security without food safety,” explains Emily Lau, a regulatory scientist at Fresh. “Alongside novel food development, we must invest in understanding the safety of new foods brought to market. This is why Singapore has invested substantially in this space and taken a leadership position in the cultivated meat regulation.”

Fresh is working to establish structured approaches for benefit-risk assessments of novel foods and undertaking studies to better understand the differences in the potential hazards between slaughtered and cultured meat. It plans to launch a study on the potential microbial risks in cultivated meat production soon.

Nonetheless, cultivated meat can deliver many benefits for public health, as avoiding slaughter reduces the risk of contaminants or pathogens.

“Unlike conventional meat, cultivated meat can be grown in a controlled, clean and closed environment,” notes Toubia. “With Aleph Farms’ products, an automated process will eliminate the need for antibiotics entirely and, in the unlikely event that contamination occurs, our cells would not grow.”

Singapore’s government is also establishing open discussion platforms to ensure knowledge sharing across industry, academia and government. “This open, tripartite approach to food security and food safety innovation is a key factor in why the development of the cultivated meat industry is taking off in Singapore,” says Lau.

Navigating regulatory roadmaps
Moreover, Fresh highlights that the cultivated meat industry is engaged in knowledge sharing, even between international regulatory agencies. As cultivated meat inches closer to commercialization, many countries are supportive and proactive in establishing regulatory approval pathways – including the US and Europe.Alepha Farms has submitted its application for regulatory review in Israel and expects positive indications imminently.

Notably, the US Food and Drug Administration found Upside Foods’ cultivated chicken to be safe for consumption in a pre-market evaluation last November.

Meanwhile, the EU has created a working group to examine the regulatory issues surrounding the industry and eventually establish a legal framework. However, as Bosch at Mosa Meats points out, the EU approval process takes 18-24 months, in part due to member states aligning on specifics like labeling.

Europe’s relatively slow movement on cultivated meat has led some countries, like the Netherlands and Israel, to take a more proactive approach and establish their own regulatory frameworks. However, there are currently no formal industry approvals in these markets.

“Like Singapore, Israel has become a welcoming ecosystem for cellular agriculture and cultivated meat in particular,” continues Toubia at Alepha Farms. “In 2022, the Israel Innovation Authority allocated government grants to the world’s largest cultivated meat consortium of private companies and research institutions, including Aleph Farms.”

“Alepha Farms has submitted its application for regulatory review in Israel and expects to receive positive indications soon. Accordingly, we are aiming to carry out our soft launch in Israel in 2023 and are in advanced discussions with premier chefs, restaurant owners and hospitality groups to make that happen.”

For Mosa Meats, the focus in the next few years will be on obtaining regulatory approval for the sale of cultured meat, scaling up production and introducing its first products to the global market.

Meanwhile, following the success of Good Meat in Singapore, more cultivated meat companies are expected to set up operations in the country.

“We expect to see market entry activities ramping up as soon as this year,” Dr. Benjamin Smith, director at Fresh, tells us. “Fresh is working closely with these companies to identify safety gaps and fulfill the requirements for Singapore’s novel food regulatory framework, especially addressing the gap in novel food toxicology testing.”

By Joshua Poole