(3 minutes read)
· Singapore grants the U.S. start-up Eat Just Inc. permission to sell lab-grown chicken meat
· The San Francisco based company –Eat Just Inc – described its product as real, high quality meat created directly from animal cells. It is certified safe for human consumption
· Africa has sizable meat imports, particularly chicken. Major importers of chicken are South Africa, Angola, Ghana, Benin and Republic of Congo, accounting for 80% of the imports
· Should any of these country switch over to lab grown chicken meat, there can be considerable depletion in imports
Singapore grants the U.S. start-up Eat Just Inc. permission to sell lab-grown chicken meat. The meat grown in lab conditions is created from cultured chicken cell and will be sold as nuggets.
The lab meat is developed by obtaining the cell line of the chicken using cell isolation technique, which includes a biopsy from a live animal. Later the cells are cultured and transferred into a bioreactor. Later, it is fed with a proprietary mix of proteins, amino acids, minerals, sugars, salts and other nutrients. They are harvested after achieving enough density. No chicken is killed in the process.
The San Francisco based company –Eat Just Inc – described its product as real, high quality meat created directly from animal cells. It is certified safe for human consumption. Singapore’s Food Agency approved the nuggets after Eat Just Inc submitted safety assessments.
How this is going to affect Africa? Africa has sizable meat imports, particularly chicken. Major importers of chicken are South Africa, Angola, Ghana, Benin and Republic of Congo, accounting for 80% of the imports. Should any of these countries switch over to lab grown chicken meat, there can be considerable depletion in imports. The US and EU are the major sources for importing chicken into Africa. There were trade issues being faced by South Africa regarding chicken imports. South Africa’s chicken imports account for closely 80% of the total import of the Sub-Saharan Africa. Both U S and EU enjoy duty free access to Africa for chicken exports, which has considerably affected the domestic poultry industry.
