Dutch cultivated pork startup Meatable announces it has joined the APAC Society for Cellular Agriculture (APAC-SCA), becoming its newest member as of September 2024.
APAC-SCA is a coalition of Asian cultivated meat and seafood companies advancing cell-based foods to meet the soaring animal protein demand in a bid to ensure food security and sustainability. The organization has opened its membership to companies based outside the APAC region, aiming to support those with business strategies in the area.
Meatable has operations in Singapore, where its cultivated pork products, made in just four days, are pending regulatory approval from the Singapore Food Agency (SFA), with hopes to launch between the end of this year and 2025.
Meatable’s General Manager in Singapore, Aaron Yeo, now appointed member representative, shared: “Climate change and its impact on the food supply chain require strong, international collaboration among diverse stakeholders. As we launch in Asia, we look forward to connecting with like-minded partners to contribute to this vital cause. We appreciate the Society’s warm welcome and support.”
Developing the cultivated meat industry
The APAC-SCA is a collective focused on establishing, implementing, and developing strategic frameworks to spur innovation in the cellular agriculture space.
The organization members include Avant Meats, Simple Planet, CellX, Aleph Farms, IntegriCulture, Joe’s Future Foods, Gaia Foods, DaNAgreen, and Seawith.
Peter Yu, Program Director of the APAC Society for Cellular Agriculture, commented, “We’re thrilled to have Meatable joining APAC-SCA and our joint effort to further develop the cultivated food industry regionally. Meatable’s strong footprint in the field will undoubtedly be a great asset to various programs encompassing regulatory coordination, ecosystem building, and public perception.”
Government support for cell-based foods
The governments of Singapore, Japan, China, India, and South Korea have been supporting the development of novel proteins to tackle multiple fronts, from climate change to food security to economic growth. This support has sparked expansion interests in many companies outside APAC.
Singapore is the most notable case. It has become a leading hub for alternative proteins due to the ambitious targets the SFA set to produce 30% of the nation’s nutritional needs locally by 2030. Since 2019, the SFA has introduced a novel food regulatory framework, which granted GOOD Meat’s cultivated chicken approval in 2020, making Singapore the first country to sell cultivated meat.
The Australian cultivated meat startup Vow, the Finnish company Solar Foods, and the Dutch startup The Protein Brewery have also received approval to sell their novel proteins in the country. Meanwhile, Vital Meat, Aleph Farms, CellMEAT, and others are looking to enter the Singaporean market.
