Cultivated meat concerns: Cost, health impact and religious factors raised by Singaporeans
The general public and experts in Singapore raised several concerns over the consumption of cultivated meat, while also acknowledging it can play a crucial role in the City State’s food security efforts.
These views were detailed in a study earlier this year that aimed to investigate how both the public and experts perceive the risks and benefits of cultured meat on individual and societal levels.
During focus group discussions, participants highlighted two main aspects of personal health benefits from cultured meat: functional foods and enhanced food safety. Some expressed the belief that cultured meat could be engineered to be more nutritious and healthier than conventional meat.
A key societal benefit identified was food security, as participants suggested that cultured meat could enhance Singapore’s self-sufficiency by reducing reliance on imported meat, diversifying food sources, and addressing supply chain vulnerabilities.
Concerns were voiced about the perceived higher cost of cultured meat compared to conventional options, viewed as a financial risk that could deter consumer willingness.
More importantly, participants noted that specific racial and religious communities in Singapore, such as those adhering to strict dietary restrictions may encounter difficulties in accepting cultured meat.
‘No clarity’: India plant-based milk brands veer away from conventional dairy terms
Plant-based dairy brands in India have been continuing to steer away from using conventional dairy terms on their product labels until regulators issue greater clarity on what is permitted.
Back in 2020 and 2021, the Food Safety and Standards Authority India (FSSAI) announced a ban on the use of conventional dairy terms such as ‘milk’ and ‘cheese’ for plant-based products. It also directed plant-based manufacturers to modify the product labels of all such products and e-commerce platforms to delist these as well.
This order was successfully stayed by the Delhi High Court later in 2021 after five companies took action. Despite this, industry uncertainty remains today.
“The ban is essentially still a motion in hearing at the court level at this time,” Rohit Jain, Co-Founder and CEO of Drums Food International which was one of the five companies that contributed to the initial ban being stayed, told FoodNavigator-Asia.
“Right now there is not yet complete clarity on these regulations by the regulators, and we have adopted the stance that we will respect the ruling.
“So until there is clarity, we will stay in compliance with the initial order and have stopped using the term ‘milk’ for our oat and almond products – we have moved to use other terms such as ‘beverage’ instead.”
‘Plugging the gaps’: Market consolidation in cultivated protein sector vital to overcome ‘disillusionment’
Singapore cultivated seafood firm Umami Bioworks has highlighted its belief that strategic mergers are crucial to overcome doubts about the sector and achieve buy-in from major brands which can help the category scale-up.
Umami Bioworks hit the news this year for its merger with Shiok Meats, especially with both firms well-known for being cultivated seafood industry leaders and pioneers in their own right.
“The M&A really came about when we saw that the market was unfortunately turning sour and sentiment was down during this trough of disillusionment period,” Umami Bioworks CEO Mihir Pershad told FoodNavigator-Asia during the most recent episode of our Food and Beverage Trailblazers podcast.
“We know the market will come back once past this trough and that we will see recovery on the backside, but how good that recovery is and how long it will take is still to be seen so we needed to think about how to position the company to be in the best possible state to be the obvious choice for seafood industry incumbents to partner with both during this window and post-recovery.
“One of the important parts was to bolster our IP portfolio and accelerate our path to solving some of the existing problems, so when looking at the similarities of the core theses of both Umami and Shiok, there are IPs there we think can be applied to both crustaceans and also to a broader portfolio across fish.
‘Protein out of thin air’: World-first chocolate promises high-iron, high-fibre option for vegan and health-conscious consumers
Finnish food company Fazer has launched the world’s first chocolate made using ‘protein out of thin air’ in Singapore this year, citing its high iron and fibre content as attractive for vegan and health-conscious consumers.
The ‘protein out of thin air’ in question is Solein, developed by foodtech company Solar Foods, which Fazer is a major investor and stakeholder in. Solein obtained regulatory approval as a novel food product from the Singapore Food Agency in 2022.
Fazer is one of Finland’s most well-known chocolate brands, and is best known for its Geisha and KarlFazer brands in the Asia Pacific region. The firm has dubbed this novel chocolate ‘Taste the Future’, highlighting its status as the first ever FMCG product to utilise Solein.
“We felt that with such a novel ingredient it was important to focus on a product format that consumers are familiar with, and since Fazer is best known for our chocolate it made sense to formulate in this format first,” Fazer Corporate Ventures Senior Manager Siiri Pihlainen told FoodNavigator-Asia at its first tasting event in Singapore.
“With the addition of Solein, Taste the Future is one of the only chocolates available that are fortified with high iron content as the process of fermenting and generating the protein itself leads to the production of iron.”
Not halal just yet: Singapore Islamic Council says ‘more rigorous’ parameters must be fulfilled for cultivated meat to be halal-certified
The Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (MUIS) highlighted earlier this year that cultivated meat still needs to meet a ‘more rigorous’ set of requirements to be halal-certified, even though it has been deemed potentially permissible for halal consumption.
In early February 2024, the news that the MUIS Fatwa Committee had deemed cultivated meat consumption permissible as halal ‘under certain conditions’ was met with a warm welcome by the alternative protein industry.
Whilst there can be no doubt that this is extremely positive news for the sector, the fatwa (or formal ruling on a point of Islamic law) on cultivated meat does not automatically mean that all such products can be considered halal upon production.
First off, it will need to fulfil several conditions as determined by the MUIS Fatwa Committee.
“The Fatwa Committee has concluded that [several] conditions must be fulfilled to ensure that cultivated meat is halal for consumption,” MUIS stated via separate documentation.
“First, the cell source must be taken from animals that are halal to consume; second, every ingredient that makes up texture and composition of cultivated meat must be halal; and third, the product [must be] non-toxic and clean.”
This ruling would automatically rule out cultivated pork as an option for Muslim consumers, and would certainly also call for much closer scrutiny of the production process.
Hard cell? Expert opinions clash over GOOD Meat’s 3% cultivated chicken launch in Singapore
Cultivated meat brand GOOD Meat’s retail launch of a new chicken product in Singapore earlier this year has divided experts across the food industry as to whether this is a step forward for the sector or simply a means to cut costs amidst the firm’s financial struggles.
GOOD Meat announced that its retail cultivated chicken GOOD Meat 3, which contains 3% of lab-grown meat, would be sold at retail outlet Huber’s Butchery in Singapore starting May 16 2024, assuring consumers that this would be available ‘for the remainder of 2024’.
This can be considered the world’s first and only retail launch of a cultivated meat, and at S$7.20 (US$5.36) for 120g this pricing is still higher than that of conventional meats.
However, it is lower than the pricing of its cultivated chicken dishes served in Restaurant 1880 after it first received regulatory approval from the Singapore Food Agency back in 2020, which were about S$23 (US$17.11) a plate.
The foodservice collaboration has since been halted, and GOOD Meat parent company Eat Just also paused its cultivated chicken production in both its own and partner facilities in Singapore and halted plans for a new plant amidst legal issues it is facing in the United States.
The firm’s new venture is likely in hopes of coming back from these hurdles, and alternative meat advocacy Good Food Institute (GFI) believes that this is a major step forward for the cultivated meat sector in the region.
Hassle-free healthy eating: Australia’s v2food eyes new avenues of growth through acquisition of ready meals brand
Australia’s plant-based pioneer v2food has stated its ambitions to strengthen its position in the category through the acquisition of ready meals brand Soulara, with portfolio expansion and broadening sales channels as growth drivers.
The acquisition process started in September 2023 and concluded in January this year.
According to Tim York, CEO of v2food, one of the main reasons for this move was the common customer base shared by plant-based and ready meals categories.
“Most of our products are ingredients that go into meals, such as burgers, sausages, mince, crumbed chicken, etc. We’ve been exploring new avenues of growth and one category we are most interested in is ready meals because we see a big overlap with the consumer demographic for plant-based foods.
“Ready meals are typically sold to single-income or ‘dual income, no kids’ households, and consumers in the 20s to 30s age bracket, which are the core demographics interested in plant-based foods.
“The key motivation for consumers to adopt a plant-based diet is health, while the biggest driver of ready meals is convenience — plant-based ready meals address both, so it made a lot of sense for us [to acquire Soulara],” York told FoodNavigator-Asia.
3D food printing vital for creating plant-based alternatives, with buckwheat being ‘most promising’ ingredient – review
Emerging technologies such as 3D food printing (3DFP) are unlocking opportunities to develop nutrient-rich and personalised plant-based substitutes for traditional meat, researchers have said.
The convergence of 3D printing technology with the food industry holds significant promise as it means that plant-based substitutes that do not rely on livestock can be created.
A group of researchers from Kazakhstan has conducted a review of studies to explore the utilisation of common plant-based protein sources, such as soybean, pea, lentil and buckwheat, for 3DFP.
Findings from the review indicated that buckwheat, a dietary staple in Central Asia, could be an ideal candidate for 3DFP, as it is commonly cultivated in the region and contains a range of properties suitable for specific 3D-printing applications.
“Buckwheat is a unique material in the realm of 3D printing due to its distinct characteristics. Buckwheat-based filaments can produce prints with a slightly grainy texture. This can be desirable for certain applications where a natural, organic appearance is preferred.
“Due to its rheological properties that are highly suitable for 3D printing, buckwheat performs as the best option among cereal grains. Furthermore, 3D-printed samples achieved good self-supporting properties by stirring and cooling buckwheat-based ingredients.”
Cultivated meat in Singapore: After huge fanfare, does the future look more challenging amid ‘funding winter’?
The cultivated meat sector has been in a state of funding and growth uncertainty amidst a global ‘funding winter’, even in Singapore which many start-ups in the industry considered ‘the place to be’ from a regulatory and financial.
Singapore was previously the most-commonly named market when cultivated meat firms were asked regarding expansion or development plans in the Asia Pacific region, not least due to the success of Eat Just in securing world-first regulatory approval from the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) in December 2020 to launch cultivated chicken nuggets under its GOOD MEAT brand.
But despite the huge amount of fanfare and publicity the launch received, the industry was rocked earlier this year by revelations that Eat Just had not only paused its ongoing cultivated chicken production in Singapore in both its own and partner facilities, but also halted plans for the building of a separate plant protein production establishment.
Looking at the sector as a whole, experts have been urging caution around investment and expectation on returns.
“In the context of a global ‘cooling’ of venture investments, this sector is clearly being impacted by unrealistic promises made by entrepreneurs to their investors,” venture capital consultancy firm ID Capital Founder and CEO Isabelle Decitre told FoodNavigator-Asia.
Best of both worlds: Plento to debut nutrient-rich snacks made from pea protein and cricket flour in South Korea
Insect foods start-up Plento launched a range of baked crisps containing pea protein and cricket flour in South Korea, which the firm claimed would counteract nutrient limitations of snacks made solely from plant-based protein.
Plento’s baked crisps are created with pea protein, cashew nut flour, flax seed, and cricket flour — the result of nearly three years of development at Singapore Polytechnic’s Food Innovation & Resource Centre (FIRC).
Massimo Reverberi, founder of Plento, told us that the company is the first to combine plant-based and insect protein to leverage the “advantages of both”.
“Our snacks provide a spectrum of nutritional benefits, including high levels of protein (37%) without high levels of carbohydrates. They are also rich in calcium, iron, magnesium, and phosphorus. Unlike soy protein commonly found in other snacks, Plento’s pea-cricket flour formula provides nine essential amino acids.
“Plant-based protein is a more sustainable alternative to animal protein, but it does not provide all the amino acids that one may need. Nutritionally speaking, insects are the best meat we can think of, so that’s where our idea came from,” he told FoodNavigator-Asia.