Malaysia is launching its first lab-grown meat facility. Could it help reduce agricultural emissions?

Mr Ng hopes to reduce the price of his lab-grown seafood from US$60/kg to less than US$30/kg before 2025, by using a cheaper nutrient-rich medium that allows cells to grow. The target is to eventually price all his products at US$10/kg.

“Last year, we unlocked the alternative to an ingredient that made cultivated meat very expensive,” he said, adding that this was a crucial step towards large-scale production that paved the way for the setting up of the facility. 

For all the talk that producing lab-grown meat is more environmentally-friendly as compared to traditional farming methods, Mr Ng acknowledged that a significant amount of electricity is needed to grow meat in bioreactors at scale.

“We have good sunlight in Malaysia, so we will use solar energy to power our bioreactors. We cannot say that we are using zero electricity from conventional sources, but we will try to minimise it,” he said.

ROADBLOCKS AHEAD

Dr Tan Thuan Chew, an expert in alternative proteins at Universiti Sains Malaysia, said the process of cultivating meat is “not entirely without environmental impact”.

“The production of cultivated meat generates waste materials such as growth media, bioreactors and other equipment,” he told CNA. “Disposing of these materials can have an environmental impact if not managed properly.”

Growth media refers to the solution that allows cells to grow and proliferate. This includes fetal bovine serum, which is the liquid fraction that remains after blood drawn from a bovine fetus coagulates.

Nevertheless, Dr Tan noted that cultivated meat has the potential to “significantly reduce” greenhouse gas emissions from traditional meat production, and address issues like animal welfare and food security.

“However, it is still an emerging technology and more research and development are needed to make it commercially viable and sustainable,” he said.

For instance, Dr Tan said Malaysia might need to invest in new infrastructure to support the production and distribution of cultivated meat, including specialised facilities for growing meat cells.

“In addition, cultivated meat is currently produced on a small scale, and scaling up production to meet consumer demand could be challenging,” he said.

“The technology used to create cultivated meat may need to be refined to improve efficiency and reduce costs.”