Lab-Grown Meat Wins First Approval for Sale

Lab-grown meat coming soon to a restaurant near you? Maybe, if you're in Singapore.

Singapore regulators have OK'd for human consumption "cultured chicken" produced by San Francisco-based food-technology company Eat Just. The approval "paves the way for a forthcoming small-scale commercial launch" of Eat Just's Good Meat brand in Singapore, the company stated in a news release. 

Eat Just's lab-grown meat is made directly from animal cells combined with plant-based ingredients and is produced without the use of antibiotics. Safety and quality validations have demonstrated that the company's 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," according to the company. 

Eat Just also produces Just Egg, a "plant-based scramble" made from mung beans that is sold in 12-ounce bottles through Amazon and at Whole Foods and other retailers in the U.S. The company touted the Singapore Food Agency's regulatory approval of cultured chicken as a "breakthrough for the global food industry." While global meat consumption has increased, environmental and public-health concerns associated with increased meat production and consumption have meant that "more efficient and less environmentally harmful ways of producing meat are urgently required to satisfy growing consumer demand," Eat Just's news release states.