Singapore to Establish the World’s First Hybrid Meat Innovation Centre

Meatable, the innovative Dutch food tech company on a mission to deliver cultivated meat at scale, will establish the Future of Meat innovation centre in Singapore, in partnership with plant-based butcher Love Handle.

With a shared vision to create products to satisfy the world’s growing demand for meat without harming the environment, the two will collaborate on developing hybrid meat products – using both cultivated meat and plant-based materials to develop innovative foods that are indistinguishable from real meat.

The partners said in a statement that the innovation centre to be knowns as the Future of Meat Centre innovation will be located in Singapore with the aim to serve the global market.

The centre will be the first kitchen and innovation lab dedicated to developing and innovating world-class hybrid alternative protein products and associated intellectual property. It will house some of the best machinery and materials to drive next-level innovation in hybrid meat and plant-based products.

The two companies will launch the centre in 2023 and will jointly invest around S$6 million and employ a team in Singapore.

On top of food-innovation kitchen equipment like high-end blenders, mixers and emulsification equipment, the lab will also include bespoke equipment designed specifically for the development of cell and plant alternative protein innovations.

These include high moisture extrusion equipment and industrial texture and taste analysers to optimise recipes. The lab will have the capacity for small-scale production.

Krijn de Nood, co-founder and CEO of Meatable, said: “We’re delighted to announce this partnership with Love Handle to build the world’s first innovation centre for hybrid cultivated meat products. Together we’re going to spearhead the development of hybrid products for the Singapore and global markets and help foster innovation among other alternative protein producers. Our vision is to satisfy the world’s growing appetite for meat without harming the environment, animals or people.”

The innovation centre will also feature an experience centre for hosting customer and consumer tastings so that people can taste the delicious products for themselves. A retail space will complete the innovation centre for consumers to buy products to try in-store and at home. The building will also include offices, with space for other plant-based players to help them commercialise their products.

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The partnership marks an expansion in Meatable’s strategy to help bring cultivated meat to the market faster. Its new hybrid products will be developed with a cultivated meat-led approach, which uses plant-based protein to optimise the properties of cultivated meat. Meatable expects to deliver completely new hybrid products that are indistinguishable from traditional meat. They will retain the familiar bite, taste, and texture integral to the eating experience.

The partnership with Love Handle is the next step in Meatable’s expansion in Singapore and was brought together by the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB), a government organisation  tasked with supporting Singapore’s position as a leading innovation hub.

The country was the first to approve cultivated meat in 2020 as part of its 30 by 30 strategy, which aims to build up its agri-food industry’s capability and capacity by producing 30% of its nutritional needs locally and sustainably by 2030.

Ken Kuguru, co-founder and CEO of Love Handle said: “The new innovation centre we’re setting up with Meatable will help us develop new hybrid and plant-based meat products as well as provide a space for existing plant-based players to further drive innovation in the food industry. We’re looking forward to working closely with Meatable and for consumers to be able to try these new and exciting products as early as next year.”

This follows the announcement last month that Meatable is partnering with the CMDO ESCO Aster, the first and only global production facility with regulatory approval to produce cultivated meat, to produce Meatable’s cultivated pork products in Singapore. These partnerships are part of Meatable’s wider plans in Singapore, which will invest over S$60m and employ more than 50 people over the next five years.

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