Cultivated meat company pauses production in S'pore

Eat Just's facility in Bedok, initially slated to open in 2023, seems shuttered

- Chin Hui Shan and Shabana Begum

The world's first cultivated meat product was approved for sale in Singapore in 2020 to much fanfare. But production of the cell-based meat by Californian firm Eat Just has been put on pause, The Straits Times understands.

Eat Just's cultivated chicken products sold under the label. Good Meat are not available at Huber's Bistro, which was previously the only restaurant offering the novel food. The Good Meat production facility in Bedok, initially slated to open in the third quarter of 2023, is shuttered, ST checks showed.

When queried, an Eat Just spokeswoman said: "We're evaluating various processing conditions, the unit economics, and a larger strategic approach to producing in Asia."

Huber's Bistro stopped offering the kebab skewers and chicken salads made with Good Meat in December 2023.

Its marketing manager said Huber's will have the product on the menu again when supply is ready, and expects to resume its offering of the cultivated chicken "very soon".

It had previously been selling the dishes since January 2023.

Meanwhile, Eat Just's $61 million cultivated meat manufacturing facility in Bedok appears not to be in operation. The company held a ground-breaking event for the facility in 2022.

When ST visited Bedok Food City - the industrial premises that house the 30,000 sq ft Good Meat facility on Feb 29, workers from other firms in the building said the US company's two units on the ground floor are shut and were rarely opened for about six months. Boxes of air-purifying equipment sat outside one of the closed units, and benches were piled outside the other.