This Is the First Butcher to Ever Sell Cultured Meat. Here’s Where to Find It

Cultivated meat (also referred to as cell-based or cultured meat) could launch commercially in the United States as soon as 2023. And Americans are ready for it. About 80 percent are either "highly likely" or "would consider" trying cultivated meat. Until then, GOOD Meat, the cultivated meat brand from Eat Just, is preparing cultivated meat in Singapore and will be available for the first time ever in a butchery.

Between December 8 and 10, selected guests will get the chance to taste chef-crafted dishes featuring the company's signature cultivated chicken at Singapore's Huber's Butchery. Shortly after the tasting experience, the butchery will open for in-restaurant dining, where customers can order the cultivated chicken.

“Offering this new approach to making meat at a butchery is another historic moment in the long road to making our food system more delicious and sustainable. I’m very proud to partner with the Huber’s team to give people a whole new way to experience our cultivated chicken in the new year,” Josh Tetrick, co-founder and CEO of Eat Just, said.

Currently, GOOD Meat is the only cultivated meat brand that has achieved regulatory approval. The company began selling its cultivated chicken in Singapore last year. The company's innovative product has been previously featured at roadside food stalls, local fine dining eateries, and online via Foodpanda, a prominent delivery service in Asia.

“When we founded our butcher shop, we made it our mission to provide top quality and exceptional tasting meat products with the highest food safety standards at an affordable price. Partnering with GOOD Meat is in keeping with that vision and the realities of our ever-changing food system,” Ryan Huber, Huber’s Butchery Managing Director, said

Cultivated Meat Demand is Growing

The cultured meat market will register a 95.8 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) between 2022 and 2030, reaching $2.7 billion worldwide. In short, consumers everywhere are awaiting the sustainable, cruelty-free alternative to conventional meat production. Huber's Butchery and GOOD Meat intend to showcase the potential of its sustainable meat when reservations open for the general public this January

Conventional meat production can be attributed to about 37 percent of the world's total methane emissions. By promoting cultivated meat production, consumers can effectively cut their environmental footprint without drastically changing their diets.

“Cultivated meat could be one of the solutions to over-farming due to increased population size and density and an increase in animal protein consumption in many parts of the world,” Andre Huber, Executive Director of Huber's Butchery, said.

Eat Just is working closely with ABEC Inc to increase its production capabilities in both Asia and the United States. This May, the company announced that it would begin building a production facility with 10 250,000-liter bioreactors that will become operational by 2024.

United States Gives the "Green Light" to Cultured Meat

This November, Upside Foods became the first company within the United States to receive e the "No Questions" letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. This letter gives the food tech company the "green light" for its cultivated chicken product, allowing them to prepare for commercial sale. With this innovative product, Upside's team believes that its product can curb American chicken consumption, which is estimated at 100 pounds per person per year.

To achieve this approval, Upside has been through rigorous examinations from the FDA and USDA since its founding in 2015. However, the company still needs full approval from the USDA to move forward on commercial sales and opened its biggest manufacturing facility, appropriately named EPIC to anticipate this jump in demand. The facility currently can produce 50,000 pounds of cultivated meat per year with a potential to reach 400,000 pounds per year.

“This is a watershed moment in the history of food,” Dr. Uma Valeti, CEO and Founder of Upside Foods, said in November. “We started Upside amid a world full of skeptics, and today, we’ve made history again as the first company to receive a ‘No Questions’ letter from the FDA for cultivated meat. This milestone marks a major step towards a new era in meat production, and I’m thrilled that U.S. consumers will soon have the chance to eat delicious meat that’s grown directly from animal cells.”

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