From lab to table: Breaking the cost barrier

Startups developing cell-grown meats in Singapore are making their way up the cultivated meat food chain. Can they get past the high costs of production, scale up, and continue to secure funding in the increasingly competitive space?

Published Fri, Mar 18, 2022 · 02:09 PM

Foodtech

CRISPY chicken cuts fanned out on a plate of rice drenched in golden-brown curry is a staple at the 70-year-old Loo’s Hainanese Curry Rice stall. At just S$4, that is a steal – more so when the chicken was grown in a lab, free of slaughter.

Cultivated meat is a novel food made with traditional biotechnology, sharing the same cellular make-up as conventional meat. The product could take some stress off of the world’s growing meat demand, but producing it is expensive – averaging US$1,000 for 1 kg of meat.

In the past 4 years, 8 Singapore startups have been cooking up solutions to make cultivated meat more affordable.

Shiok Meats, Singapore’s first cultivated meat and seafood company founded in 2018, is launching its cultivated shrimp next year at US$50 per kg. That is just the production cost. It would be initially sold at a higher price to restauran…