“Last summer, our restaurant dinners at China Circano in Washington, D.C., went extremely well,” Carrie Kabatt, Eat Just’s global communications director, said in an emailed statement to WIRED. “We plan to bring back these dinners this year.”
Good Meat/Eat Just chicken was previously available in Singapore, but sales there have also been temporarily suspended. “We are ramping up production in Singapore and will be in service soon,” Kabat wrote.
The goal of these early cultured meat sales was likely to generate buzz, gauge public reaction and raise industry awareness, said investors at plant-based cultured meat venture capital firm Clear Current Capital. Steve Molino says. I invest in either Eat Just or Upside Foods. “We’ve accomplished what we set out to accomplish, and now it’s time to refocus,” Molino said, noting that both companies likely would have lost money on meat sales, given the high cost of production.
Eat Just is currently embroiled in a legal dispute with a former partner over unpaid bills. In a November 2023 WIRED investigation, former employees alleged that the company was in financial trouble and failed to pay vendors on time. “The reality for us now is that we need to figure out a way to build a large-scale facility without spending more than $500 million, because that is not viable in the long term.” Just CEO Josh Tetrick told WIRED at the time. “There has to be a better way. And if we can’t find another way, what we’re doing won’t work.”
Cultured meat is no longer sold in the United States and Singapore, but Eat Just and Upside Foods told WIRED they plan to resume sales in 2024. And last month, Israel-based Aleph Farms received regulatory approval from the Israeli Ministry of Health to sell cultured meat. Cultured Beef Products: A mixture of beef cells and plant proteins. The company still wants an inspection of its pilot production facility in Rehovot and instructions from Israeli regulators regarding labeling and marketing before selling its products in Israel.
“Following inspection of our production facilities, Aleph Katz will be introduced as a targeted tasting experience for consumers and stakeholders,” said Didier Toubia, CEO and co-founder of Aleph Farms. “This phase of limited market activation will allow us to gather consumer feedback, work with consumers to improve brand positioning, and lay the foundations for a successful long-term launch. Masu.”
Sheila Boss, senior vice president of communications at the Good Food Institute, an alternative protein nonprofit, said she expects cultured meat to continue to expand in the United States.
“As we have seen in Singapore, the first country in the world to approve the sale of cultured meat, consumer rollout is moving to fine dining restaurants, home delivery and hawker stalls, highlighting the versatility of this product. “We hope to see similar deployments in the United States,” she says. “We are still in the very early stages of cultured meat entering the market.”