Little by very little cultivated meat is becoming more mainstream. Cultivated chicken is now available at retail level in Singapore. In the U.K. cultivated chicken will land on supermarket shelves later this year, albeit destined for a very different end consumer.
First, let’s look at what’s happening in Singapore. In what has been described as a world first, GOOD MEAT, the cultivated meat division of U.S. company Eat Just, best known for its plant-based egg products, is making Good MEAT 3 available through high end Singaporean retailer Huber Butchery.
Priced at S$7.20 (US5.43), you won’t actually get a lot of chicken for your money, as Good MEAT 3 contains only 3% cultivated meat. This is less than the company’s earlier cultivated meat offerings, with the remainder of the product being plant proteins.
That would seem like a lot of plant and a little chicken, cultivated or otherwise, for your Singaporean dollar, but he company notes that using vegetable protein helps to keep costs down, and that costs behave been amongst the main barriers to scaling the industry.
Will consumers bite?
Will Singaporeans be queuing up in the freezer aisle to but his new offering? They might.
GOOD MEAT certainly has some experience of the local market. Its cultivated meat was approved in Singapore back in 2020, so it has been around a while. Additionally, prior to working with Huber, its cultivated meat was sold through the restaurant of local members’ club 1880, and last year, Huber’s own restaurant began offering dishes containing GOOD MEAT product, while stocks lasted.
Will pets?
Turning to the U.K., Meatly – formerly known as Good Dog – has announced that it has become the first European company ever to sell cultivated meat, and the first in the world to gain authorization for cultivated petfood, following U.K. regulatory clearance.
Meatly plans to launch the first samples of its cultivated chicken petfood later this year, making it first cultivated petfood to be sold. Beyond these initial samples, Meatly’s primary focus will be on cost reduction, and it will start scaling production to reach industrial volumes over the next three years,
Would you?
While Singaporeans may appear keen to try cultivated meat, albeit in highly diluted form, attitudes vary considerably around the world.
A study in Italy in late 2022 found that 95% of Italian’s wouldn’t touch it, while research carried out in the U.K., at more or less the same time, found that a third of consumers were keen. France and Germany are also thought to be potentially strong markets.
What about our furry friends? Meatly notes that pet parents are crying out for a better way to feed their cats and dogs, but I’ve not managed to find a bark or meow, approving or otherwise.
