From lab to table

CRISPY chicken cuts fanned out on a plate of rice drenched in golden-brown curry is a staple at the 70-year-old Loo's Hainanese Curry Rice stall. At just S$4, that is a steal - more so when the chicken was grown in a lab, free of slaughter.

Cultivated meat is a novel food made with traditional biotechnology, sharing the same cellular make-up as conventional meat. The product could take some stress off of the world's growing meat demand, but producing it is expensive - averaging US$1,000 for 1 kg of meat.

In the past 4 years, 8 Singapore startups have been cooking up solutions to make cultivated meat more affordable.