Singapore: Chicken nuggets from the laboratory

Singapore intends to cover 30 percent of its food needs itself by 2030. To this end, the state relies on innovations: Meat substitute products from the laboratory are intended to reduce meat consumption and protect the climate.

A beautifully decorated room in a private club in Singapore, atmospheric colorful pictures are projected on the walls, finely dressed guests are sitting around a dining table, and on the table in front of them is a kind of world sensation: chicken nuggets that didn’t make a chicken die. Instead, the meat grew from chicken stem cells in a nutrient solution.

And how is it received by the guests who were able to test the laboratory poultry at the beginning of the year? “Yes, I thought that would bother me, but not a bit,” says one. “Well, I like it!” Says another guest. “It definitely tastes better than chicken nuggets normally.”

“It will be a better world”

In December 2020, Singapore became the first country to approve Eat Just to serve its chicken-free chicken nuggets. A historic moment, found founder Josh Tetrick: “We hope this is just the first step towards a world in which no more animals are killed, no more trees felled and no more antibiotics are used for most of the meat we eat must be needed, there will be a better world. “

Laboratory meat and laboratory fish are supposed to save the world. To prevent the oceans from being overfished, companies in California are developing tuna and mahi-mahi in laboratories, in Japan researchers are working on Wagyu steak from nutrient solution and 3D printer, and in Singapore the three founders of Ants Innovate are bringing pork from cell cultures into them Restaurants.

“That was never as urgent as it is now during the climate crisis,” says Shujian Ong, responsible for research and development at Ants Innovate. “And at the moment we’re getting even more attention – and investments and support from the government too. On the one hand, we all see the problems of intensive agriculture, but with Covid also the risk that zoonoses arise from animal husbandry and consumption.” Zoonoses are infectious diseases that are transmitted from animals to humans.

World leader in meat substitute products

Singapore, the small city-state in Southeast Asia, is the world leader in its “alternative protein products” legislation, according to the official formulation. They can be sold after they have passed a safety check and are clearly labeled: In other words, laboratory meat has been declared as “farmed”, meat alternatives made from peas, soy, grain, algae or mushrooms are “plant-based” or “mock meat”.

The so-called mock meat already has a centuries-old tradition in China, the idea originates from Buddhist monasteries. In Singapore, too, cheated meat has long been available in the refrigerated shelves, in the food stalls or, for example, in a temple restaurant in Chinatown, where a Buddha’s tooth is venerated as a relic. Is that why Singapore is so open about the legislation and promotion of meat alternatives?

“No, we’re actually conservative in our tastes,” says Ong. The three founders of Ants Innovate also all like to eat meat – so they would know all the better what meat eaters expect from a product, he says. “The government of Singapore supports this mission, it wants to attract talent and technology. The government’s main concern is food security. It has declared the goal of ’30 x 30 ‘- to be able to meet 30 percent of the food needs from Singapore by 2030. “

Pork belly pieces from the 3D printer

A city-state on the land area of ​​Hamburg with almost six million inhabitants cannot accommodate huge pastures and stables – but laboratories and meat cell farms can. In their vertically arranged bioreactors, says Ong, they could produce tons of pork a day on a hundred square meters. Without a pig having to die for it.

At the moment they are working on the final production of Bak Kwa, a popular snack made from sweet and salty grilled pork, later also pork belly pieces from the 3D printer will be added with the right texture and the appropriate mouthfeel. “For this we received a million dollars in public funding to develop cells in the bioreactors into whole pieces of meat.”

Market for meat alternatives is growing

As in many other areas, Singapore sees itself as a pioneer and veritable test kitchen and has set up development centers that attract many investors and startups. In the next ten years, the market for meat alternatives could be $ 140 billion, according to the Barclays Bank, a tenth of the world’s meat industry.

So it’s a business that not only lab meat developers are pushing their way into. In Singapore in particular, supermarket shelves are also filling up with new plant-based meat alternatives: breakfast meat and Bolognese, crab dumplings and Wagyu strips, kebabs and fish fingers. Flexetarians – people who want to replace some of their animal protein with plant products – are the fastest growing consumer group in Singapore.

Both forms of the new meat alternatives, whether from plants or the laboratory, are in most cases healthier than conventional meat. But above all, more climate-friendly. “If you grow meat in the laboratory, you can cut land use by 99 percent and water use by 90 percent,” says Ong. That would also be entirely in the Buddha’s sense. Definitely in terms of the climate – and therefore also in our own.