Singapore clears cultivated beef; Pennsylvania weighs a testing ban
Singapore approved Aleph Farms' cultivated beef, a world first, months after approving Parima's cultivated duck, according to the Good Food Institute (GFI).
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Singapore approved Aleph Farms' cultivated beef, a world first, months after approving Parima's cultivated duck, according to the Good Food Institute (GFI) [41].
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Higher healthful plant-based diet scores were linked to 13.2% lower mortality in 5,872 older Chinese adults, and unhealthful plant-based scores to 19.2% higher [2].
03
Pennsylvania's House advanced an amended bill to ban sales of animal-tested cosmetics, which still needs full votes and a governor's signature [32].
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Montana authorized 300 wolf kills after cutting its population estimate to 725, while a new preprint finds packs that lose a parent often collapse [50][59].
Singapore approves Aleph Farms' cultivated beef after Parima's cultivated duck
Photo: good food institute
Singapore's food regulator granted Aleph Farms the first approval anywhere to sell cultivated beef, following its April approval of French startup Parima's cultivated duck [41]. GFI, a nonprofit that advocates for alternative proteins, says a recent Parima and Vow production run cut costs by removing expensive media compounds, and that Islamic authorities in Singapore and Malaysia have each outlined a path to halal permissibility [41]. The cost figures below are the companies' and GFI's, not audited numbers.
By the numbers
22,000-litreproduction line used for the Parima and Vow run, which GFI calls the largest food-grade cell culture bioreactor globally [41]
99 percentcost cut from removing some of the most expensive media compounds, as GFI reports the companies' result [41]
below $50/kgfinished-product cost, "the low €40s per kg" [41]
€10 ($11.65) per kgby the end of the decade, an estimate from analysts at Arthur D Little [41]
Healthful plant-based diets tied to lower mortality, unhealthful ones to higher, in older Chinese adults
Wikimedia Commons / Tofu
A prospective cohort in Frontiers in Nutrition followed 5,872 Chinese adults aged 65 and older with early-stage cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic syndrome for a median of 108 months [2]. The highest quartile of the healthful plant-based diet index had 13.2% lower mortality risk than the lowest, while the highest quartile of the unhealthful index had 19.2% higher risk [2]. The overall plant-based index showed no independent association with mortality after adjustment [2]. As an observational study, it shows association only [2].
“plant-based dietary quality, rather than plant-based eating per se, is the relevant exposure”
HR 0.868(95% CI 0.783–0.961) for deaths in the top versus bottom healthful-index quartile [2]
HR 1.192(95% CI 1.060–1.340) for the top versus bottom unhealthful-index quartile [2]
2,870deaths among 5,872 participants during follow-up [2]
FromFrontiers in Nutrition | New and Recent Articles
03▬Law & PolicyStory
Pennsylvania House advances amended bill to ban sales of animal-tested cosmetics
Photo: cruelty-free kitty
Pennsylvania's amended SB 381 advanced in the House on October 6 and awaits committee review, according to Cruelty-Free Kitty, an advocacy site [32]. It would bar sales of cosmetics developed with animal tests the manufacturer or its suppliers commissioned on or after January 1, 2027, though companies could still sell animal-tested products to meet another country's rules if they don't use those results to show US safety [32]. It also gives eligible lab dogs and cats a chance at adoption, and still needs full House approval, Senate agreement and Gov. Josh Shapiro's signature [32].
By the numbers
January 1, 2027is the cutoff: tests run before that date fall outside the ban [32]
September 2025is when the Senate approved an earlier version of the bill [32]
FromCruelty-Free Kitty
04▼Activism & AnimalsStory
Montana authorizes 300 wolf kills as a preprint shows packs fracture after a parent dies
Photo: Conservation news
A bioRxiv preprint using 17 years of Oregon data found gray wolf packs that lost a parent were far likelier to dissolve and fail to breed, and that larger pack size did not fully offset the loss [59]. Two filmmakers who lived among Idaho wolves write in a Mongabay commentary that Montana revised its wolf estimate from 1,094 to 725 in July 2026, then authorized 300 kills for the 2026–2027 season a month later [50].
“Coexistence begins with the understanding that wolves have a rightful place in the wild.”
commentary authors, Emmy Award-winning filmmakers who lived among Idaho wolves · [50]
By the numbers
nearly five timesmore likely to dissolve after a parental death (95% CI 2.12–11.12), across 303 pack-years [59]
nearly 16 timesmore likely to fail reproductively (95% CI 5.34–47.26) [59]
66% fewerpups recruited (95% CI 49–78% fewer) than in packs where both parents survived [59]
300wolves authorized for killing in Montana against a revised estimate of 725 [50]
FrombioRxiv Subject Collection: Animal Behavior And CognitionConservation news
Worth Knowing
Food & Recipes
Sweet Loren's Thin & Crispy Cookie Dough, 100 calories a serving in Double Chocolate and Chocolate Chunk, is turning up at Whole Foods, and Oreo's Banana Pudding, one of three vegan-friendly summer flavors, won the vote and returns in 2027 [25].
Innovation
GFI APAC and the WHO's Asia-Pacific Centre for Environment and Health announced a multi-year partnership that includes a first WHO report on sustainable food systems, alternative proteins among them, in the Western Pacific, GFI says [37].
EFSA's strategy paper names cultivated meat and precision fermentation as priority areas needing "faster and fit-for-purpose" risk assessments, and GFI Europe is pressing the EU to reverse the Commission's exclusion of novel foods from the Biotech Act sandbox [38].
Research & Nutrition
A Nature commentary urges "positive lists" of species allowed as pets, and Mongabay reports that only 9.5% of reptiles and 4.2% of amphibians in trade are regulated under CITES, in a trade worth about $2.5 billion [5][48].
The Sweet Tooth Trial, a randomized semi-controlled study of 180 adults, found no significant difference in sweet-taste liking after six months of low, regular or high sweet-food exposure [1].
Activism & Animals
Brazilian Amazon deforestation fell 42% to 3,335 square kilometers in the 12 months to July 31, a record low, and Cerrado clearing, driven by ranchland conversion, fell 24% to 5,516 [45].
One Good Thing
Photographer Steve Winter and journalist Sharon Guynup, partners for 37 years, say their reporting exposed and shut down Thailand's Tiger Temple, a tiger-petting monastery, and fed into the US Big Cat Public Safety Act [52]. They also say Winter's photo of the cougar P-22 beneath the Hollywood sign sparked what will be the world's largest wildlife overpass, arching over the 101 Freeway in Los Angeles and opening December 2nd [52].
The Good Food Institute
