5 ms·

Singapore is a follower. Whatever they're in to happened elsewhere 2 years before. More broadly, it's not really about cell-cultured meat. It's about producing

Singapore is a follower. Whatever they're in to happened elsewhere 2 years before. More broadly, it's not really about cell-cultured meat. It's about producing any kind of protein whatsoever which can be ingratiated in to the food supply chain anywhere. The huge success in culturally normalizing the consumption of 'beef balls' and similar '<highly processed, derivative, nominal protein identity> balls' in markets like Thailand to my critical eye largely stem from the beef ball factories of Shantou in Guangdong. Make no mistake: those people are making bank selling total bunk for real bucks. Poverty will be the driver. Economically, it's hard to pass up plants. They've literally evolved over millions of years to produce the goods using almost nothing in resource terms. Somehow the world just needs to learn to love Indian food and stop expecting protein and lipid dense meals.

jsemrau 2y ago
Singapore also has great universities. Research into this area fits Singapore well.
- pydry 2y ago
  The entire culture of the country is much more oriented to being a fast follower though. They do not innovate.
  - _lvbh 2y ago
    By your standards, most of the world outside the US does not innovate, which makes sense since if they did, the tech would be bought up by a US company anyways
    - pydry 2y ago
      No, not really. There are some unique facets to Singaporean culture that heavily discourage innovation. This isn't the case for most of the rest of the world.
  - gmerc 2y ago
    Which is why water desalination tech is one of their major exports. They mastered the technology out of survival need (Malaysia constantly threatening to cut off water supply) and are exporting it now.
nradov 2y ago
You're not wrong about the economics. Access to large amounts of high-quality protein (regardless of whether it's plant or animal derived) is increasingly going to divide the rich and poor. We can easily grow enough crops to provide everyone with enough calories (distribution problems aside), but people can't maximize performance and healthspan eating mostly grains and starches. https://peterattiamd.com/lucvanloon/ https://peterattiamd.com/lucvanloon/
- contingencies 2y ago
  Sure but most people aren't in to resistance training. They're in to high fructose corn syrup, processed foods, and sedentary lifestyles. I wondered which product generates higher returns: protein powders or statins? Actually according to Google the former is USD$28B and the latter is only USD$20B at the moment. I'd expect the latter to grow and the former to shrink.
  - AlexandrB 2y ago
    Not just statins but diet drugs like wegovy. I suspect that people's addiction to corn syrup will be solved medically, not with willpower or lifestyle changes. Side note: "in to" should be one word - "into".
    - jfengel 2y ago
      I fear that people will eat less corn syrup but only because they're eating less overall. I'd love to see people put the money they save into higher quality food, but history suggests otherwise. The corn syrup based foods are cheap, tasty, and really easy to eat. It's too bad they have no nutrients besides calories.
      - sundvor 2y ago
        Fear? Corn syrup will easily lead to early death through obesity. Any reduction would clearly be a positive.
  - 2y ago
olejorgenb 2y ago
> It's about producing any kind of protein whatsoever which can be ingratiated in to the food supply chain anywhere We have at least some options for this already. Mycoprotein is one https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycoprotein https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycoprotein | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quorn#Production https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quorn#Production (apart from the plant isolates)
Scarblac 2y ago
> Singapore is a follower. Whatever they're in to happened elsewhere 2 years before. > [...] > It's about producing any kind of protein whatsoever Personally I follow fermentation based (bacteria based) proteins with interest, potentially they can have an even smaller footprint than plant based protein. Like Solein ( https://solarfoods.com/solein/ https://solarfoods.com/solein/ ), which has now been accepted as safe for human consumption in one country: Singapore. So they're not always behind the curve.
- contingencies 2y ago
  potentially they can have an even smaller footprint than plant based protein. Maybe one day - the potential of fungi is amazing. It's a whole world that is fundamental to ecology and comparatively poorly understood or mapped. However, I remain skeptical at present once you factor in one or both of the lab costs (steel vats, process control, power consumption, thermal systems, and lab employees) and the raw inputs (fermentation doesn't happen on thin air). By the time you've grown the raw input, why not just grow a food crop? I feel virtue-signalling regulatory moves are meaningless. Case in point: many markets are totally unregulated, by your logic they're ahead of the curve. I don't disagree.
  - padjo 2y ago
    It does seem like hubris to think we’re anywhere near being able to design a protein synthesis process that’s more efficient than a soy plant.
    - bitmasher9 2y ago
      I don’t think so. A soy plant has tons of evolutionary baggage tied to its protein synthesis. It has to reproduce, out compete other life for resources, be hardy enough to survive both pests and pesticides, and it evolved in a resource constrained environment. For life generating protein is a byproduct of other goals. It seems possible that we can do better.
  - Scarblac 2y ago

jsemrau 2y ago

Singapore also has great universities. Research into this area fits Singapore well.

pydry 2y ago
The entire culture of the country is much more oriented to being a fast follower though. They do not innovate.
- _lvbh 2y ago
  By your standards, most of the world outside the US does not innovate, which makes sense since if they did, the tech would be bought up by a US company anyways
  - pydry 2y ago
    No, not really. There are some unique facets to Singaporean culture that heavily discourage innovation. This isn't the case for most of the rest of the world.
- gmerc 2y ago
  Which is why water desalination tech is one of their major exports. They mastered the technology out of survival need (Malaysia constantly threatening to cut off water supply) and are exporting it now.

nradov 2y ago

You're not wrong about the economics. Access to large amounts of high-quality protein (regardless of whether it's plant or animal derived) is increasingly going to divide the rich and poor. We can easily grow enough crops to provide everyone with enough calories (distribution problems aside), but people can't maximize performance and healthspan eating mostly grains and starches. https://peterattiamd.com/lucvanloon/ https://peterattiamd.com/lucvanloon/

contingencies 2y ago
Sure but most people aren't in to resistance training. They're in to high fructose corn syrup, processed foods, and sedentary lifestyles. I wondered which product generates higher returns: protein powders or statins? Actually according to Google the former is USD$28B and the latter is only USD$20B at the moment. I'd expect the latter to grow and the former to shrink.
- AlexandrB 2y ago
  Not just statins but diet drugs like wegovy. I suspect that people's addiction to corn syrup will be solved medically, not with willpower or lifestyle changes. Side note: "in to" should be one word - "into".
  - jfengel 2y ago
    I fear that people will eat less corn syrup but only because they're eating less overall. I'd love to see people put the money they save into higher quality food, but history suggests otherwise. The corn syrup based foods are cheap, tasty, and really easy to eat. It's too bad they have no nutrients besides calories.
    - sundvor 2y ago
      Fear? Corn syrup will easily lead to early death through obesity. Any reduction would clearly be a positive.
- 2y ago

olejorgenb 2y ago

> It's about producing any kind of protein whatsoever which can be ingratiated in to the food supply chain anywhere We have at least some options for this already. Mycoprotein is one https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycoprotein https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycoprotein | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quorn#Production https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quorn#Production (apart from the plant isolates)

Scarblac 2y ago

> Singapore is a follower. Whatever they're in to happened elsewhere 2 years before. > [...] > It's about producing any kind of protein whatsoever Personally I follow fermentation based (bacteria based) proteins with interest, potentially they can have an even smaller footprint than plant based protein. Like Solein ( https://solarfoods.com/solein/ https://solarfoods.com/solein/ ), which has now been accepted as safe for human consumption in one country: Singapore. So they're not always behind the curve.

contingencies 2y ago
potentially they can have an even smaller footprint than plant based protein. Maybe one day - the potential of fungi is amazing. It's a whole world that is fundamental to ecology and comparatively poorly understood or mapped. However, I remain skeptical at present once you factor in one or both of the lab costs (steel vats, process control, power consumption, thermal systems, and lab employees) and the raw inputs (fermentation doesn't happen on thin air). By the time you've grown the raw input, why not just grow a food crop? I feel virtue-signalling regulatory moves are meaningless. Case in point: many markets are totally unregulated, by your logic they're ahead of the curve. I don't disagree.
- padjo 2y ago
  It does seem like hubris to think we’re anywhere near being able to design a protein synthesis process that’s more efficient than a soy plant.
  - bitmasher9 2y ago
    I don’t think so. A soy plant has tons of evolutionary baggage tied to its protein synthesis. It has to reproduce, out compete other life for resources, be hardy enough to survive both pests and pesticides, and it evolved in a resource constrained environment. For life generating protein is a byproduct of other goals. It seems possible that we can do better.
- Scarblac 2y ago