Singapore grants Vow approval to sell cultured quail meat

The product, Forged Parfait, will launch on 12 April at the Mandala Club.

Singapore has approved the sale of Australian startup Vow's cultured meat products derived from Japanese quail.

Food Frontier, an independent think tank on alternative proteins in Australia and New Zealand, announced that Vow is the fourth company approved globally to sell a cultivated meat product.

Vow will launch its product --- a parfait --- under the brand label Forged.

According to Food Frontier, Forged will be the “only cultivated meat product currently available to the public anywhere in the world when it launches at Singapore’s top-end Mandala Club on 12 April.”

“After half a decade, to see real people in a real restaurant eating cultured meat, laughing and smiling was the greatest possible Vow birthday moment I could ask for,” George Peppou, CEO and co-founder of Vow,  wrote on LinkedIn. 

According to Food Frontier’s Alternative Proteins and Asia report, Singapore is the second most favourable market for alternative proteins in Asia.

“It is also considered the centre of innovation in Asia for alternative proteins with a business-friendly environment backed by supportive government policy and regulations to attract investment and innovation. Singapore is also one of four countries in the world where precision fermentation dairy products are permitted for sale,” the think tank said.

Singapore was also the first country to approve cultivated meat in 2020.