First Regulatory Approval For Slaughter-Free Meat
Eat Just Can Now Sell Cultured Chicken Bites in Singapore
Eat Just, the San Francisco–based maker of plant-based egg, has just announced the world’s first regulatory approval for cultured chicken grown from cells from the Singapore Food Agency. Not a complete surprise. Eat Just’s Director of Cellular Agriculture, Vitor Santo, suggested to me last year that the company found regulators in the region to be generally receptive to their technology.
It apparently came as no surprise to the folks at alternative protein advocacy group the Good Food Institute either. According to the group, GFI has been meeting with Singapore scientists and regulators for more than three years.
Good Question:
According to reporting from The Guardian, “the growth medium for the Singapore production line includes foetal bovine serum, which is extracted from foetal blood, but this is largely removed before consumption.” Pretty much every cultured meat company is working on animal-free growth serum, including Eat Just.
The company’s next production batch will be fed on a serum that’s plant-based. Currently Eat Just makes their chicken bites by mixing in mung beans, also an ingredient in their plant-based egg, with their cultured chicken. There are also no antibiotics used in their proprietary process.
Chicken Bites cooking up in the kitchens of Eat Just, last year:
What’s Next?
It feels like there’s a bit of a new backlash to cultured meat brewing, one that exposes the fault lines in this whole alt protein coalition between industry boosters and technivores on the one hand and vegan food justice advocates on the other, advocates who worry that these new faux meats allow us to eliminate the animal slaughter without having to address any of the food system’s human injustices.
What I’m always left wondering is what are most plant-based consumers looking for, really? Is it something better for the planet or are they looking for food that’s better for their health?
I personally want my substitutes to be as “clean” as possible. By that I don’t mean some faux version of healthfulness based on ingredient count. I want my plant-based egg or cultured steak to come free of flavors because I selfishly want to add them myself. Yet the market seems to favor substitutes that come pre-flavored and, often, pre-cooked. Some critics call this too much processing. For me it’s just a culinary preference.
Consumers want different things depending on the day or the meal. Sometimes you want to cook from scratch and others you want to pop some pre-made frozen nuggets into the oven. If those pre-made nuggets are in some way “better,” whether that’s better for you, the planet or for animal welfare, you’ll take it. But of course, it’s that “better” part that can get complicated, and complicated is also where most consumers tune out.
Before you go…here’s a recent piece I wrote for the Hothouse Solutions newsletter about why organic farming may be worse for climate. And check out our new gear over at SciMoms:
