SINGAPORE has become the world’s first country to approve for consumption an entirely lab-grown poultry product.
Eat Just Inc has created a chicken product produced directly by animal cells.
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It differs from other traditional meat alternatives in that it is created from chicken’s cells, rather than a blend of ingredients designed to mimic the texture and flavour of chicken.
The company has not yet said exactly when the product will be on the market, but the approval would “pave the way for a small-scale commercial launch”.
Eat Just Inc also has an egg product based on mung beans that is already on sale in several regions of the world.
Approval
This latest chicken product has now passed the country’s approval process for novel foodstuffs.
“Eat Just has demonstrated a consistent manufacturing process of their cultured chicken by running over 20 production runs in 1,200-liter bioreactors,” a news release said.
“No antibiotics are used in this proprietary process. Safety and quality validations demonstrated that harvested cultured chicken met the standards of poultry meat, with extremely low and significantly cleaner microbiological content than conventional chicken.
Cultured chicken
“The analysis also demonstrated that cultured chicken contains a high protein content, diversified amino acid composition, high relative content in healthy monounsaturated fats and is a rich source of minerals,” it added.
Josh Tetrick, Eat Just’s chief executive said: “Singapore has long been a leader in innovation of all kinds, from information technology to biologics to now leading the world in building a healthier, safer food system.
“I’m sure that our regulatory approval for cultured meat will be the first of many in Singapore and in countries around the globe.”
