The Singapore Food Agency (SFA) has granted approval for cultivated beef, marking only the second instance globally of such a development, with previous approvals primarily for poultry, seafood, and quail. This milestone follows Aleph Farms’ earlier regulatory success in Israel in 2023, making this the first cultivated beef authorization outside its home market.
The product approved for sale is Aleph’s Cultivated Thin-Cut Steak. “Aleph Farms submitted this application to the SFA [back in] September 2022. This was the first time any regulator anywhere had assessed cultivated beef, so it was a pioneering process rather than a product moving through an established pathway,” noted Nicky Quinn, VP of Marketing at Aleph Farms.
Quinn elaborated: “Both the SFA and industry were navigating a new category together and through the review we worked closely with the agency on scientific and regulatory questions that had never been assessed for cultivated meat before, generating additional data as the framework itself evolved.”
Currently, Aleph Farms is focusing on the foodservice sector for its rollout in Singapore, though retail options remain a future consideration. “We are targeting the first half of 2027 to launch through foodservice with select restaurant partners, [which] we will announce closer to launch. Retail would follow later rather than at launch,” he stated.
He shared that their manufacturing partner, Cell Agritech, is enhancing local production capacity to accommodate initial limited volumes, with expectations of increased supply by 2028. The Thin-Cut Steak is currently produced with a mix of cultivated beef cells and a plant-based protein, rather than being composed solely of cultivated beef.
Quinn refrained from revealing specific pricing details but indicated that the steak will comprise between 10% to 20% cultivated beef. “We are not in a position to discuss pricing yet and this will be set closer to launch, with our foodservice partners,” he added.
Highlighting Singapore’s reliance on beef imports, he observed, “What is for sure is that Singapore imports virtually all of its beef, and serves as a regional distribution hub, [making it] central to Aleph Farms’ approach to embedding cultivated beef into existing Asia Pacific supply chains.”
Looking ahead, Aleph Farms has positioned itself strategically within Singapore, a nation known for its stringent food safety standards managed by the SFA. Gaining this approval is a significant leap towards achieving broader expansion targets.
“Earning approval in Singapore meant meeting one of the most rigorous novel food frameworks in the world,” commented Yifat Gavriel, Aleph Farms’ chief of regulatory affairs, quality assurance, and product safety. “It gives us a strong foundation as we pursue approvals in additional markets.”
The company envisions cultivated beef as a valuable addition to traditional meat options, diverging from earlier viewpoints in the alternative protein sphere that sought to replace conventional meat entirely. Their current efforts are geared towards both commercialization and scaling operations within the region for sustainable growth.
“Singapore has built one of the world’s strongest ecosystems for cultivated meat, and this clearance allows us to move toward scaling up our commercialization in Asia on a capital-efficient footing,” said Didier Toubia, co-founder and CEO of Aleph Farms. He emphasized, “Food security calls for diversification of animal protein sources [and] our aim is to complement conventional beef supply chains, not replace them. Singapore is a practical place to begin that work in the APAC region.”
Aleph Farms is also eyeing expansion beyond Asia, particularly in Europe. “Switzerland and the UK are the next markets where we have regulatory reviews underway. [While Singapore is our] APAC innovation and scale-up hub, Switzerland is where we are preparing our European production base,” noted Quinn.
“Within Asia, Singapore is deliberately the entry point rather than the whole plan, and our manufacturing partnership with Cell Agritech includes capacity in Penang to support the wider region as demand grows.”
