DUTCH food-tech company Meatable will launch its first cultivated pork products in Singapore by Q2 2024, subject to regulatory approvals.

The company chose Singapore as its first market because the country was the first to legalise and approve the sale of cultivated meat products.

Caroline Wilschut, chief commercial officer of Meatable, said that the Economic Development Board of Singapore and the food authorities have helped the company in its journey.

These plans come after Meatable’s recent funding round of US$35 million, which was secured in August.

Meatable is partnering contract manufacturer Esco Aster to produce cultivated pork here as well. Esco Aster obtained a licence to manufacture cultured animal cells from the Singapore Food Agency in September 2021.

The company can cultivate a product from a pig’s stem cells in eight days, by utilising its patented technology.

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Meatable’s cultivated pork products include sausages, which are 33 per cent cultivated meat. The rest of the ingredients are plant-based.

Distinctive taste

The distinctive taste of pork comes mainly from the pork fat, which makes up most of the 33 per cent cultivated meat.

The initial launch in Q2 2024 will be on a small scale, with select restaurants and retailers carrying the cultivated pork products. The scale-up to an industrial operation will take place sometime in 2025, when Meatable will sell its products widely in Singapore.

In reducing costs of production, Meatable has chosen to use off-the-shelf bioreactors, rather than designing and building its own, unlike other cultivated meat peers. This poses fewer issues with scaling up production.

“Our process works in off-the-shelf bioreactors... It is very common in the pharmaceutical industry and we don’t expect any problems in scaling with them,” said Hans Huistra, chief operating officer, Meatable.

But the biggest costs currently are still in the growth media and the capital expenditure in setting up manufacturing facilities. Meatable has however mitigated some of the costs through the partnership with Esco Aster.

The price of the products will be similar to that of organic meats, said Wilschut.

“We are not adding a premium to what restaurants normally sell their dishes for,” she said.

Sausages are what Meatable will be selling at its launch, but other products may be added based on feedback from customers.