Lab-grown chicken meat will make its debut at Robertson Quay in Singapore this weekend.

Lab-grown chicken meat will make its debut at Robertson Quay in Singapore this weekend. (Photo: Getty Images)

US start-up Eat Just announced earlier this month that its cultured chicken had been given first-in-the-world regulatory approval by Singaporean authorities.

In its latest announcement on 16 December, the firm said it had made its first commercial sale of the product to 1880, a private members’ club in Robertson Quay.

Eat Just chief executive Josh Tetrick said the news moves people closer to a world where the majority of meat they eat will not require tearing down a single forest, displacing a single animal’s habitat or using a single drop of antibiotics.

Meat consumption is projected to increase more than 70 percent by 2050, and lab-grown alternatives have a role to play in ensuring a secure food supply.

There were concerns that lab-grown varieties would be too expensive, however, an Eat Just spokesman said the company had made considerable progress in lowering the cost.

Three cultured chicken dishes will be served from 19 December, with each bite influenced by a top chicken-producing country in the world such as China, Brazil and the US.

Singapore, the high-tech city-state, has become a hub for the development of sustainable foods, with start-ups producing goods ranging from lab-grown "seafood" to dumplings made with tropical fruit instead of pork.

A study found that the market for alternative meat could swell to 140 billion USD by 2029.

Source: VNA