Dutch cultivated meat producer Mosa Meat—the first company to produce lab-grown meat—entered into an agreement with Singapore-based contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) Esco Aster to commercialize Mosa Meat’s cultivated beef in Singapore.

The signing of the agreement was facilitated by the Dutch embassy in Singapore, with participation from Mosa Meat CEO Maarten Bosch, Esco Aster CEO XL Lin, Dutch ambassador Anneke Adema, and head of agrifood for the Singapore development board Samuel Chan.

According to Mosa Meat CEO, the company expects this collaboration to help alleviate the carbon footprint associated with shipping products across borders, as the company will now be able to produce its beef in Asia.

Analyst QuickTake: Singapore being the only country as of date to have approved the sale of cultivated meat makes expansion into Singapore an easy decision for companies. For Mosa Meat, the added advantage of this partnership is that Esco Aster is the first and only facility to have obtained regulatory clearance for production of cultivated meat in Singapore which will allow Mosa Meat to use resources such as the Aster Mavors platform for its production. Further, Mosa Meat began the development of a new industrial production plant in October 2022 which will increase its production capacity and will also be able to attract funds from the recently confirmed EUR 60 million (~USD 60 million) grant from the Dutch government.