“Cultivated meat” – APAC food startups get boost from historic agreement at Singapore International Agri-Food Week

Cultivated fish fillet meuniere.

From cellular agriculture groups in China, Japan and Australia to multi-national corporations Cargill and Thai Union and startups GOOD Meat and Shiok Meats, more than 30 stakeholders in the novel foods space have come to an agreement. To facilitate regulatory standardisation and build public trust, they will use the common term “cultivated” to describe meat and other food products grown directly from animal cells.

A wide range of terms has previously been used to describe food products grown directly from animal cells, including cultured meat, lab-grown seafood, and cell-based protein. But now, key Asia-Pacific stakeholders involved in food tech and innovation have coalesced behind “cultivated” as the preferred English-language descriptor for meat and other food products grown from animal cells.
 

Agreeing on a common, scientifically accurate term is vital for the long-term success of the cultivated foods industry. As cultivated meat, seafood, and other products move into the broader consumer market in the coming years, it is important that shoppers know exactly what they’re buying and how it was made, so that they can make clear, informed decisions. Having a standard, go-to phrase to describe products cultivated from animal cells also reduces the burden on new startups and businesses to explain their production process to investors and regulators. 

This historic agreement—facilitated by the Good Food Institute APAC and APAC Society for Cellular Agriculture—was announced on 28 October in Singapore, the world’s first cultivated meat consumer market.  

More than 30 stakeholders inked an MOU agreeing on the “cultivated” terminology, which was then publicly revealed on stage during Singapore International Agri-Food Week. Signatories include leading startups GOOD Meat, Shiok Meats, Esco Aster, Umami Meats, TurtleTree, and Avant, as well as regional coalition groups such as China’s Cellular Agriculture Alliance, Cellular Agriculture Australia, the Japan Association for Cellular Agriculture, and Korean Society for Cellular Agriculture. Other big names include the Future Ready Food Safety Hub (FRESH)—an entity jointly launched by the Singapore Food Agency, A*STAR, and Nanyang Technological University—and major multinational companies Cargill and Thai Union.
 

Cultivated chicken curry rice being served in Singapore. Image courtesy of GOOD Meat

The next step will be to assess how this common English term translates into various Asian languages. The MOU establishes a regional precedent that can be replicated in other regulatory markets around the globe to benefit startups and consumers outside Asia.

The location of this announcement was no coincidence. In recent years, Singapore has invested the necessary resources to make the city-state a welcoming ecosystem for food innovation and multilateral collaboration.
  

The Republic has played key roles as a test bed for novel foods and a proactive player in accelerating the category on the global stage. For example, Singapore has actively shared its novel food experiences as part of multinational initiatives driven by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and Codex Alimentarius Commission—a joint body of the FAO and World Health Organization dedicated to developing global food standards. Such knowledge sharing is important because not every country has the bandwidth to conduct its own alternative protein R&D or research the nuances of food safety and consumer protection in promising new fields like cultivated meat. In those circumstances, concrete technical materials from nations that do have first-hand experience enable other countries to build their own novel food frameworks on a solid foundation.

“Any time new foods are introduced to mainstream consumers, there will be a steep learning curve. That’s why it’s so exciting that our sector has unified early behind the familiar and scientifically accurate term ‘cultivated,’ which reassures consumers that meat, seafood, fats, and other products made from animal cells are safely and thoughtfully grown and harvested, in a process similar to growing plants in a greenhouse. For startups like mine, having a common term to describe our field allows us to spend less time on basic consumer education and more on scaling up a future-proof food system in Asia.”

- Shigeki Sugii, Ph.D., founder of Singapore-based startup ImpacFat

 Singapore’s bold ambitions in food innovation stem from its goal to source 30 per cent of its nutritional needs locally by 2030, while creating new jobs and business opportunities in the emerging food tech sector.

For some entrepreneurs, Singapore has become a food tech hub with a vibe akin to the early days of Silicon Valley, when local startups were rapidly buying up office space that put them at the centre of the action.  

About the Authors:

Ryan Huling is Senior Communications Manager at the Good Food Institute APAC—Asia’s leading alternative protein think tank. Prior to joining GFI, he was working as an international consultant for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), based in Hanoi, Vietnam, where he focused on sustainable food systems.

Peter Yu is Program Manager for the APAC Society for Cellular Agriculture—an association and coalition of 10+ cultivated meat and seafood companies across the APAC region. Peter holds an MBA from the National University of Singapore and a MSc in Bioengineering from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.