[ti:Singapore Approves Sale of Lab-Grown Meat] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:00.04]Singapore's government has approved the sale of a laboratory-grown chicken meat. [00:08.20]The American company that invented the product, Eat Just, [00:14.24]says it is the first time lab-grown meat has received such approval anywhere in the world. [00:24.52]Lab-grown meat – also called clean or cultured meat [00:30.08]– is created from animal cells in a laboratory. [00:35.64]The product is made without harming animals. [00:40.28]The cells grow directly into the meat, outside of any animal. [00:46.00]The Eat Just product is to be sold as small pieces, called nuggets. [00:54.72]The product is set to launch at a Singapore restaurant "in the very near term," [01:01.44]the company's CEO Josh Tetrick told Reuters news agency. [01:09.20]Singapore is an island city-state of 5.7 million people. [01:16.60]Demand for alternatives to animal meat is rising across the world [01:23.68]because of public concerns about health, animal welfare and the environment. [01:32.08]Plant-based products - popularized by companies like Beyond Meat, Impossible Foods [01:40.00]and Quorn - are selling in a growing number of stores and restaurants. [01:47.36]But the development of lab-grown meat [01:51.08]has been much slower than that of plant-based versions. [01:57.08]The main reason for the delay is money. [02:01.32]Lab-grown meat costs a lot more to produce. [02:06.80]Tetrick said the San Francisco-based company [02:10.64]is also seeking approvals from U.S. government agencies. [02:16.88]But he added that Singapore was a "good bit" ahead of the United States. [02:24.40]The Singapore Food Agency said it examined data [02:30.08]from processing, manufacturing control and safety testing [02:35.84]before approving Eat Just sales. [02:41.12]Tetrick said it is likely that the U.S. and countries in Europe and elsewhere [02:47.80]will examine Singapore's approval system [02:51.56]and will attempt to create a similar process. [02:55.88]Eat Just said it will manufacture the product in Singapore. [03:02.44]The company also plans to start making a plant-based egg substitute there [03:09.32]that it is already selling in the United States. [03:13.48]Eat Just was founded in 2011 [03:17.32]and has raised more than $300 million, Tetrick said. [03:22.48]The company is valued at around $1.2 billion. [03:29.40]Worldwide, more than 24 companies [03:32.96]are testing lab-grown fish, cow and chicken meat. [03:39.44]They are hoping to break into a new part of the alternative meat market. [03:46.16]Financial experts at Barclays Bank have estimated [03:51.20]the market could be worth up to $140 billion by 2029. [03:59.48]Competitors in the market have also been able to raise large amounts of money [04:05.88]and win support from well-known investors. [04:10.88]U.S.-based Memphis Meats raised money this year [04:15.64]in a deal led by Japan's SoftBank Group and Singapore-based Temasek. [04:22.72]Among the Memphis Meats' investors are Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates [04:29.64]and Virgin Group chief Richard Branson. [04:34.40]In Singapore, Shiok Meats aims to become the first company to sell lab-grown shrimp. [04:43.04]The company is backed by Henry Soesanto of the Philippines' [04:47.92]Monde Nissin Corporation, which also owns Quorn. [04:53.68]I'm Bryan Lynn. 更多听力请访问51VOA.COM