GOOD Meat Groundbreaking Ceremony - Ms Grace Fu

Speech by Ms Grace Fu, Minister for Sustainability and the Environment, at GOOD Meat's Groundbreaking Ceremony on 10 June 2022

Mr Josh Tetrick, CEO of Eat Just

Distinguished guests

Introduction

1. Good morning. Congratulations to the GOOD Meat team on the ground-breaking of your $61 million R&D and production facility here at Bedok Food City. This will be the largest cultured meat facility in Asia and will enhance the vibrancy of Singapore's agri-food ecosystem.

The Importance of Food Security

2. Of late, food security has become an issue of strategic importance for all countries. The war in Ukraine has shown to the world how interconnected we are in food supply. The disruption of production and transportation of crops such as wheat, maize and barley in Ukrain has caused global shortages. Not only has it resulted in escalation of food prices, it has the knock-on effect of reducing meat production in many parts of the world as supply of animal feeds shrank, or has become so expensive that farmers could no longer afford them. Climate change has also added stress to the global food supply, as droughts and floods have impacted crop yield from China, India and Africa. As a result, countries and communities are going hungry.

3. As a country that imports more than 90 per cent of our food, we are exposed to fluctuations in global supply and demand. This is why we have implemented a multi-pronged strategy to shore up our food security. An important prong of the strategy is the deliberate diversification of our food sources. In the case of the recent disruption of supply of chicken meat from Malaysia, our importers were able to respond quickly by tapping their vast network of suppliers from alternative sources, such as from suppliers in Thailand and Australia. Businesses have adapted flexibility by switching to other forms of chicken, including frozen and processed, in their recipes. Consumers have also shown resilience by substituting with alternative forms of proteins.

4. Our 30 by 30 goal for local food production is another key prong. It aims to reduce our reliance on imports and create a buffer in times of supply disruption. We have been working closely with the agri-food industry to build our capability and capacity towards producing 30 per cent of our nutritional needs locally and sustainably by 2030.

5. This is an ambitious and challenging goal. With less than 1 per cent of our land available for food production, we must do so in a highly productive, climate-resilient, and resource-efficient way, and be commercially sustainable. This requires innovation and technology, to grow more with less resources.

6. GOOD Meat is leading the way in producing protein with alternative methods to supplement our local production. Alternative proteins require less land and labour compared to conventional livestock farming. With technological advancements and growing consumer demand for sustainable foods, alternative proteins have the potential to supplement Singapore's agricultural productivity and contribute meaningfully to our 30 by 30 goal.

Promoting innovation in the agri-food industry

7. Exploiting the vast potential of food innovations, we are working actively to develop Singapore into an agri-food hub and a global living laboratory for food technology.

8. Through the $144 million Singapore Food Story R&D Programme, we support research projects in sustainable urban food production, future foods, or alternative proteins, and food safety science and innovation. We have awarded over $75 million to more than 30 projects, of which 24 were on future foods. Last year, we launched the second R&D grant calls for new solutions in the urban agriculture and alternative protein industries. We aim to increase the productivity of local food producers beyond what is achievable by current best-in-class technologies. The results will be announced by the third quarter of 2022.

Building a supportive ecosystem

9. To grow our food innovation ecosystem, SFA has launched the Future Ready Food Safety Hub, or FRESH, last year in partnership with A*STAR and NTU. FRESH brings together the government, industry, and academia to build capabilities in food safety science and research. It is encouraging to see that several companies have since engaged FRESH as their consultants for preparation of dossiers.

10. Another part of the ecosystem - Food Tech Innovation Centre, part of Temasek's Asia Sustainable Foods Platform, accelerates the commercialisation of new food technology. They provide co-working spaces, laboratories and pilot-scale equipment that enable start-ups to access without significant capital requirement. And expertise to help them bring their innovations to the market safely.

11. FoodInnovate, an initiative of ESG, complements by providing access to shared infrastructure, industry knowledge, and co-innovation platforms.

12. We will continue to work closely with agri-food companies and Institutes of Higher Learning to position Singapore as a regional R&D hub for agri-food technology. I am glad to see food-tech startups like GOOD Meat maturing over the past few years and forging ahead with their R&D efforts to develop new products and cultivate meat at larger capacities. We need to sustain the investments and developmental works to scale up the development of alternative proteins sector for commercial and production success.

Conclusion

13. In 2020, Singapore became the first country in the world to grant regulatory approval for cultured chicken meat with GOOD Meat's chicken bites. Since then, GOOD Meat has collaborated with several established local F&B establishments, such as Loo's Hainanese Curry Rice, and Michelin-plate awardee KEK Seafood, to incorporate their cultured chicken in their menu. The satay that we had earlier, prepared by KEK Seafood, is such an example and is delicious!

14. Today's event marks yet another important milestone. GOOD Meat's R&D and production facility, to be built here, will leverage our strengths in advanced manufacturing and bio-technology processes and further cement our position in the alternative protein space and our reputation as a food innovation hub. This expands our chicken options beyond the usual fresh and frozen forms to include cultured chicken.

15. My heartiest congratulations again to GOOD Meat on your ground-breaking ceremony. I look forward to seeing more of GOOD Meat's products served in more local restaurants and food establishments soon.

Thank you.