A Year After Historic Cultivated Meat Approval, Singapore Regulator Greenlights More Eat Just Products

Eat Just has announced its GOOD Meat division has been given regulatory approval for new products in another world first. The news comes exactly one year after the world’s first approval of its kind, also granted to GOOD Meat, for cultivated chicken nuggets. The move enables the cultivated chicken maker to commercialize more of its products for sale at restaurants. So far, a cultivated chicken breast has been confirmed.

The Singapore Food Agency (SFA) made history again by approving cultivated meat products for sale ahead of any other country in the world. Its support for the food tech sector has been linked to the “30 By 30” campaign which aims to produce 30 percent of the country’s food domestically by 2030. The cultivated meat industry has the capacity to bring sustainable protein production to the forefront of the campaign.

Product line expansion

Following rigorous reviews, Eat Just’s GOOD Meat cultivated chicken was approved for sale in the form of chicken bites last December in a historic first. Now, on the anniversary of the first commercial sale, multiple new products have been approved. So far, only a whole chicken breast has been confirmed by the company and will be served to Camp Asia’s Super Chef Camp young attendees next week.

“A lot has changed in our world over the last year, but one thing has stayed the same: Singapore continues to lead the global transformation to a smarter, more sustainable food system,” said Josh Tetrick, co-founder and CEO of Eat Just in a company statement. “We’re proud to celebrate our one-year anniversary of the first-ever sale of cultivated meat with this important regulatory and product announcement that’s again taking place in Singapore.” 

Investments paying off

Earlier this year, Eat Just announced that it was making Singapore its Asian hub for cultivated meat production. Having scooped $170 million in investment specifically for its GOOD Meat brand in May, the company has doubled down on making Singapore its operational home. 

2021 saw Eat Just bag $370 million in investments. This beat Upside Foods’ previous 12-month record. Funding is being used to design and manufacture new production systems, as well as to grow the team. As sales ramp up, scaled facilities and local talent will both be needed in bigger numbers.

Consumers will be able to find GOOD Meat in more locations, following the new approval. Previously, it debuted at 1880 restaurant and was available in limited formats via home delivery platform Foodpanda. Now, Singapore’s hawker centres present multiple opportunities for exposure. Loo’s Hainanese Curry Rice is cited as the first collaboration partner.

In another future-ready move, GOOD Meat announced this week that acclaimed chef José Andrés has joined its Board of Directors. The humanitarian gastronome has already committed to serving the brand’s cultivated chicken products in one of his U.S. restaurant locations, pending regulatory approval. His ThinkFoodGroup will also provide consultation services to assist the GOOD Meat team’s product improvement endeavours.

Industry implications

The news of Eat Just’s second approval is demonstrative of the cultivated meat sector moving forward. However, other major players are lagging behind. Upside Foods announced last month that it has completed its new ‘EPIC’ production facility. Capable of producing 400,000 pounds of product every year, it is not being utilised to its full potential as the green light has still not been given in the U.S. Upside Foods had hoped to confirm approval by year-end but no announcements have been made so far.

All images courtesy of Eat Just.