Corby Kummer: Lab-Grown Meat Approved In Singapore

Singapore has become the first nation on the planet to approve cell-cultured meat for human consumption. Food writer Corby Kummer spoke to Boston Public Radio on Tuesday about San Francisco start-up Eat Just Inc., which got regulatory approval to cell it’s lab-grown chicken in Singapore.

“We talk all the time about Beyond Meat and the Impossible Burger, but this is different,” Kummer said. “Its cells are from animals, that are then cultured in quantity enough to, in this case, make a chicken cutlet.”

What’s good about this is that only one animal is needed to give cells which will then be cultured to produce boundless chicken meat, Kummer said.

“Only one chicken has to die to provide vibrant cultures, which the company then builds out onto various forms,” he said. “Cell-cultured meat has had billions of dollars invested in it over the past years, and it will be coming here [to the United States.]”

Kummer is a senior editor at The Atlantic, an award-winning food writer, and a senior lecturer at the Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition and Policy.