Why Singapore’s World-First Cultivated Beef and Duck Approvals Matter
2026 still has four months left, but it’s already been a year of “firsts” in Singapore.
In April, French startup Parima secured the world’s first-ever approval to sell cultivated duck, which they plan to use in a variety of premium dishes, including foie gras.
Then, earlier this month, the Singapore Food Agency granted Aleph Farms the first regulatory approval of cultivated beef, which the company serves as thin-cut steak. Aleph Farms also formed a partnership with Malaysian manufacturer Cell AgriTech and has said it aims to be the first halal-certified cultivated meat producer. Given that Islamic authorities in Singapore and Malaysia have each now outlined a clear path to halal permissibility for cultivated meat, it’s only a matter of time before the first company hits that milestone.
As the industry approaches a dozen completed approvals worldwide, one could reasonably see these latest headlines and think “OK, whatever. More of the same.”
But that would be a mistake, GFI’s scientists say, because these latest green lights represent meaningful, necessary steps on the road to cultivated meat commercialisation. Here’s why:
Start Your Engines
Singapore’s world-class research ecosystem and multicultural landscape have enabled it to become a “living laboratory” for cultivated meat producers to road-test and refine their products for global export.
With the approval of cultivated beef and duck, top chefs and foodservice providers will soon get their hands on two brand-new ingredients. By experimenting with various formulations, such as cultivated meat inclusion rates in plant-based hybrid dishes, chefs and scientists can learn valuable insights about what it takes to satisfy consumer expectations on taste and price. The entire industry will benefit from these learnings.
These initial tastings will inevitably begin in the luxury space, where premium pricing on high-end dishes like foie gras and steak helps startups cover costs when manufacturing at relatively small volumes. But as the companies’ market footprints expand across the city and production volumes increase, economies of scale make it possible to reduce per-customer pricing, creating a virtuous cycle wherein every high-end sale imperceptibly—but tangibly—widens the circle of consumers who can try cultivated meat. Over time, this gradual expansion is expected to bring lower-cost distribution channels within reach.
To put some hard numbers to it, GFI’s analysts have identified the industry’s price thresholds (in USD) as:
Shifting Into High Gear
At the same time that free-market forces are driving down costs through ever larger commercial sales quantities, feedstock costs for cultivated meat media are also expected to drop precipitously over the coming years.
In the near term (by 2030), this will likely be achieved by removing, reducing, and replacing the highest-cost cell-culture media components, such as growth factors and proteins, through development of open-source animal-component-free media formulations. Over the medium and long term (2035 and 2040, respectively), removal or replacement of albumin, transferrin, and insulin with fully food-grade inputs—or other standardised low-cost, food-safe ingredients—is expected to drive down costs to one-tenth of their current price.
This process is already underway. The latest production runs by Parima—conducted in collaboration with Australian startup Vow, which also has approval to sell cultivated meat in Singapore—were conducted in a 22,000-litre production line, the largest food-grade cell culture bioreactor globally. The companies also strategically removed some of the most expensive compounds in their media formulation, which reduced costs by 99 percent and brought the finished-product cost to below $50/kg (“the low €40s per kg”), putting new retail and dining audiences within reach.
Firing on All Cylinders
After evaluating Parima and Vow’s production run, third-party analysts from research firm Arthur D Little noted that they see “a credible path” to further reduce costs to an estimated €10 ($11.65) per kg by the end of the decade. If companies manage to execute on this credible path and have the supply volumes to support it, this would theoretically put cultivated meat within the pricing range of even fast-casual brands like Stuff’d, SaladStop!, or Shake Shack.
GFI’s scientific hive mind is inclined to be more conservative in its projections, believing that if the sector receives adequate R&D and scale-up investment and continues to make steady progress on regulatory approvals, the road to commercialisation could look something like this:
Viewed through this longer-term lens, Parima and Aleph’s green lights do much more than signal progress for individual startups. They open entirely new lanes for the sector to build momentum, accelerate innovation, drive down costs, and bring an ever-wider range of consumers along for the ride.
Onwards,
Ryan Huling
Senior Writer | GFI APAC
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