In Singapore, the future of food begins in the laboratory

According to a 2019 UN report, the population will grow up to 9.7 billion by 2050; to support it, we will need 40% more food. The concern about resource consumption has not stopped Singapore from seeking innovative solutions. The turning point was reached in December 2020, with the official sale of meat created in the laboratory - the "clean meat". The idea belongs to the start-up Eat Just, which - after 2 years - has managed to successfully fulfill the strict tests of the Singapore Food Agency, launching cultivated chicken meat. Not only meat but also fish, thanks to the collaboration between a Hong Kong start-up, AVANT, which launched the fish cells-based hamburger, and Bioprocessing Technology Institute (BTI), focused on bio-treatment. Together, in 2022 they will open a new research hub based in Singapore, which in this context is reconfirmed as a reference hub for food tech. The goal is to develop food derived from fish cells, trying to improve the process efficiency, so that the model can also be spread to the rest of the world. To understand the scaling opportunities for a sustainable food production in Asia, Singapore will host the 4th edition of the Asia-Pacific Agri-Food Innovation Week from 16th to 18th November.