Amended 4 March: The company wishes to emphasize that production is simply paused temporarily, and it plans to resume production and service to consumers very soon.
GOOD Meat, the cultivated meat division of the US company Eat Just, has temporarily paused the production of cultivated chicken in Singapore.
The Straits Times revealed that GOOD Meat’s primary facility and a new $61 million plant in Bedok, which was scheduled to open in Q3 of last year, have been closed as the company reconsiders its strategy in Asia. The company also canceled the construction of a JUST Egg production plant in an industrial state in Singapore.
Huber’s Bistro, which started offering GOOD Meat chicken at the beginning of 2023, is currently not carrying it anymore, although a representative from Eat Just stresses it plans to resume service to consumers in partnership with the bistro.
Following its historic milestone as the world’s first cultivated meat product to receive approval, GOOD Meat chicken was sold in limited quantities at the 1880 club and later at a few hawker stalls.
But Eat Just’s spokesperson told the Singaporean newspaper that the Bedok facility would open sometime in 2024 (no specific timeline), intending to double the company’s previous production during 2024 and produce more in Singapore this year than in any year previous.
GOOD Meat in the USA
Meanwhile, GOOD Meat’s cultivated chicken is currently unavailable in the US.
After receiving approval in the US last June, the cell-cultured chicken was launched at China Chilcano, a restaurant in Washington DC owned by the famous chef José Andrés. However, reservations are currently paused till further notice.
Eat Just has raised over $850 million, including $270 million for GOOD Meat. Last September, the Californian company secured funds (reportedly $16 million) in a round led by VegInvest and Ahimsa Foundation to propel the company’s profitability and to upgrade its products, including cultivated chicken.
That same month, Bloomberg reported that the company faced a $100 million lawsuit from its bioreactor manufacturer, ABEC, over unpaid bills. In January, the lawsuit was still ongoing.
GOOD Meat envisioned producing 30 million pounds of cultivated meat using 250,000 L customized bioreactors and smaller ones (for its Alameda and Singaporean facilities) developed and designed by ABEC over a seven-year deal.
Animals out of the equation
While the company has trouble running its cultivated meat division overseas, it reports that despite some products facing low market penetration, demand for its plant-based eggs is strong and growing.
JUST Egg products are available in over 48,000 retail locations, airlines, coffee chains, and university menus.
As part of the company’s expansion strategy, it has recently relaunched JUST Mayo in various flavors, exclusively at Whole Foods Markets, nearly four years after its discontinuation.
Last year, commenting on the company’s latest financial round, Eat Just founder Josh Tetrick shared: “We founded this company to take the animal out of the equation. Our work is not easy and not certain, but it’s what is required.”
