The opening of the FoodPlant facility is set to increase the number of manufacturing and R&D options available to Singaporean plant-based companies.
Equipped with innovative small-scale machinery such as high-moisture extruders, the FoodPlant facility is a joint venture between the Singapore Institute of Technology, JTC Corporation, and Enterprise Singapore.
Alt-protein manufacturer SGProtein explained to The Straits Times that conducting R&D at FoodPlant would be far more affordable and create significantly less waste than attempting to do so at the company’s own facility. SGProtein’s site is Singapore’s first large-scale contract manufacturing facility for plant-based meats, and does not have smaller-scale machinery.
FoodPlant also provides an option for small startups who can’t meet the minimum order for production at SGProtein’s plant. Additionally, there is the possibility of collaboration between startups, since the facility is shared.
“There will be other start-ups within the space… so it’s really the exchange [of ideas] and an ecosystem approach which is going to be very interesting,” Mr. Dominique Kull, co-founder and chief executive of SGProtein, told The Straits Times.
Plant-based manufacturing in Singapore
A growing number of companies are building plant-based manufacturing facilities in Singapore. In late 2020, Eat Just announced it would be building its largest ever plant-based egg factory in the country, and Growthwell Foods last year set out plans for what it claimed would be Singapore’s first fully automated large-scale production facility for plant-based products.
“Growthwell Foods is driven by an ambitious goal of feeding 100 million people with plant-based foods, and to inspire a billion people to go green,” said Executive Director Justin Chou. “We will continue to be the leader that drives food sustainability innovation in Asia.”
