Malaysia will produce its own lab-grown meat by 2025, thanks to domestic company Cell AgriTech Sdn Bhd, which is building the country’s first cultivated meat production facility in Penang worth MYR 20 million (USD 4.4 million). The plant is set to be completed by the end of 2024.
The facility will focus on cultivating fish meat, especially premium meats, such as certain species of tuna and eel. This is part of a strategy aiming at selling products at the same price as the meat sourced from slaughtered animals. Cultivated meat is produced by growing the stem cells of meat from animals in a bioreactor. Even if the laws applicable to the industry are not yet clear in Malaysia, Cell Agritech wants to produce and stock cultivated meat on local shelves by 2025.
The company highlights that cultivated meat is safer than meat from slaughtered animals, as it is free of antibiotics and zoonotic diseases. Another advantage is that cultivated meat can reduce food wastage, as many inedible parts of slaughtered animals are usually thrown away.
Cell Agritech is currently working on identifying suppliers that are more environmentally friendly.
(Sources: Channel NewsAsia; Malay Mail)
