This photo on April 21, 2021 shows the employees who prepare vegetable food samples during the start of the vegetable innovation laboratory from ADM in Singapore. -From Faux-Chicken-Satay to the imitation of cattle rendang, a high-tech laboratory in Singapore reproduces popular Asian dishes with vegetable meat alternatives to feed the region’s growing appetite to sustainable food. (Photo by Roslan Rahman / AFP) (Photo by Roslan Rahman / AFP via Getty Images)
Roslan Rahman | AFP | Getty pictures
After an increase in popularity during the pandemic -era, the hype – and financing – for startups that develop meat alternatives. However, some Singapore Food Tech businesses hope that innovations in cell cultivation and microbial fermentation turn things around.
Manufactured proteins with animal, mushrooms or plant extracts that have been eating sustainable meal during the Covid 19 years. Meat and dairy products are currently changing Around one seven of the global greenhouse gas performanceUnited Nations estimates.
Singapore, which imports most of its products on the basis of land shortages, was great in this sector with generous funding for research and commercialization to increase nutritional safety.
“There are very few places in the world … with such a fusion of cultures, for real market tests with a number of consumers of different origins,” said Mihir Pershad, managing director of Umami Biowork, a local startup for cultivated seafood. In contrast to plant -based proteins, cultivated products from animal cells are grown.
The company, founded in 2020, expanded its business and launched off the market in the USA and Japan. It joined the UK last year and announced a new caviar product with interference cells and plant ingredients in January.
Consumers in Singapore are probably still the first to taste a Umami biowork court because the company in Singapore is looking for official approval. Umami Biowork would like to sell cultivated Unagi -Sweetwater Hall this year until such regulatory checks and “if everything goes well,” said Pershad.
Singapore was the first country to allow the sale of laboratory meat products in 2020. Israel and the United States later. The United Kingdom has approved such products for use in pet food.
The alternative protein research in Singapore has also expanded. A center financed by Jeff Bezos, which was opened in September at the National University of Singapore, and last year the state investor Temasek presented new laboratory and test kitchen facilities to support growing startups through the subsidiary Nurasa.
A beaten ecosystem
However, recent progress cannot mask the problems that weigh the alternative protein industry. Despite the fanfare, the sales have delayed expectations due to high prices and only a few repeat buyers.
The sector collected 1.1 billion US dollars worldwide in 2024, compared to $ 1.5 billion in 2023. after to the industry group Good Food Institute.
The plans of American company Eust Just for a cultivated meat plant in Singapore are put on hold, whereby the company’s plans for a separate herbal egg factory are Can. An upscale concept business of the Green Monday, which was closed in Hong Kong, which was closed in 2023. Since then, only a few new players have appeared, while some existing startups downscaling or fusion reduces with others.
The challenges have stimulated the search for soul in the industry. For Anli Geng, co -founder of Singapore Venture Mycosortia, the production costs are of crucial importance.
Mycosortia uses the microbial fermentation to convert okara-a by-product of tofu-in a protein and a fiber-rich powder. The company also wants to develop a solid fermentation process that deals with the need for advanced and expensive bioreactors.
“Although research on Okara is a very overcrowded area, there are always opportunities for innovation,” said Geng, adding that the industry is now trying to share institutions in order to further reduce the costs.
The company based in Singapore Polytechnic has used its product fib protector to produce analogues for fish, mayonnaise and cheese. Geng also reported a high interest of food companies in his recent attempt to create a cocoa powder replacement.
Elsewhere, alternative protein companies that are looking for market breaks have diversified their offers that they include pharmaceuticals, dyes and homemade food that can be made with the same ingredients.
Some believe in a return to simpler food on a vegetable basis. The relative newcomer to the Jungle Kitchen scene, which was launched in Singapore in 2023, uses the Srilankische Jackfrucht as a vegan minced meat substitute, while the seeds go to a Masala stew. Another jungle kitchen product with Indonesian Temph – traditional fermented soy cake – will be available shortly.
“We have seen a lot more commitment from customers who are looking for minimally processed alternatives for clean labels for conventional meat substitutes,” said co -founder Sargaha Yadav and added that the company was “almost as a deliberate reaction to the boom”. Bust experience of the alternative protein industry. Jungle kitchen products are available in Singapore, the USA and Saudi Arabia.
“With regard to alternative proteins, we believe that the future of the past has to look very similar,” added Yadav.
Recovery in sight?
The latest fundraising numbers offer hope. Venture Capitalist Agfunder reported that investments in the Asian-Pacific area for innovative food-inluded in the food and cultivated meat in 2024 rose by $ 204 million.
However, the creation of cash remains a challenge for some, and investors get that startups will recover enough customers for healthy returns, said Pershad. He added that Singapore remains good like a test bed, but as an end market with fewer than six million inhabitants.
He believes that cooperation with larger food companies can increase access to the market, but regulations for cultivating meat offer another street lock.
“There was hope that they would now have three, four or five countries with framework conditions and permits, but we didn’t,” said Pershad.
According to Mirte Gosker, managing director of the Good Food Institute Asia Pacific, both governments and private investors have to massively improve financing in order to support the scaling of alternative proteins.
“In contrast to renewable energies and other climate protection technologies, alternative proteins do not yet benefit from the massive state investments and green-financing systems that have made it possible to bridge the Valley of Death and from Laborbank to the manufacture of the industrial mass to hike, “said Gosker.
The success of Singapore in the room will continue to depend on his role as an innovation partner and matchmaker, said Gosker and found that the nearby countries referred to the work of the city state for the regulations for their own efforts.
A standardized regional rule book, she said, will help startups to start products in several markets at the same time – some could only reach a few.
