--- title: "This May Be the First Lab-Grown Meat to Actually Hit the Market" description: "According to a new feature in the LA Times, a startup called Shiok Meats may be poised to be the first company in the world to sell a lab-grown meat." date: "2020-10-09" modified: "2020-10-09" authors: - name: "Jon Christian" job_title: "Executive Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jonc" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/first-lab-grown-meat" categories: - "Science & Energy" tags: - "cultured meat" - "lab grown meat" - "oceans" - "the digest" --- # This May Be the First Lab-Grown Meat to Actually Hit the Market ![According to a new feature in the LA Times, a startup called Shiok Meats may be poised to be the first company in the world to sell a lab-grown meat.]() *\Image: Pexels / Futurism\* ## Shrimp Paste For years, there's been a crowded market of startups racing to bring the first lab-grown meat to market — think Aleph Farms, JUST, and the Bill Gates-funded Memphis Meats. But bringing a product to supermarket shelves has remained elusive. To be fair, it continues to do so. But, according to a new feature in the *Los Angeles Times*, a Singaporean startup called Shiok Meats may be poised to be the first company in the world to actually sell a lab-grown meat. ## Cell Gel Shiok is focusing its energy on shrimp, an industry that's been plagued by [human slavery]() and [profound environmental concerns](). "Singapore is doing more of its own investing and is the most receptive from a regulatory angle to greenlighting this to go to market first," cultured meat expert Chase Purdy told the *LA Times*. "It will likely be a restaurant in Singapore that serves this up to consumers for the first time in history." ## Price Point Though numerous startups have created prototype cultured meats, it's remained prohibitively expensive. Siok is getting close. It's brought the price per pound down from $2,268 per pound to just $1,588, according to the *Times*, and says it'll be a hundred times cheaper than that by next year. If they can pull it off — admittedly a big if, and the *Times* fell short of predicting precisely when it would hit the market — the company is planning to move on to lab-grown lobster and crab next. **READ MORE:** [The first lab-grown meat for sale could come from this Singapore startup that’s re-creating shrimp]() \[*LA Times*\] **More on lab-grown meat:** [*These Startups Want to Feed You Lab-Grown Giraffe, Elephant Meat*]() ## Author I'm responsible for editing, assigning, and scouting at Futurism, as well as occasionally writing for the site. That work involves keeping an eye on a wide range of narratives and issues, but over the past few years I've become increasingly interested in how AI is shaping the future of media, the web, and information itself. My day-to-day often involves collaborating on reporting and commentary projects bylined by my colleagues, but I try to find time to do my own reporting as well; stories I've broken for Futurism have been cited by publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Wired, Ars Technica, New York Magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review, Bloomberg, and more. I grew up in Southern Vermont and attended Vanderbilt University. Prior to Futurism, I contributed to outlets including the Boston Globe, Vice, Wired, Slate, the Atlantic, the Outline, Ars Technica and more, and did stints in farming and food service. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York, and in my free time I enjoy pinball, word games, cycling, running, and music production. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()