Anything can be created in a lab these days, it would appear. Vegans and those affiliated with PETA have reason to cheer – Mumbai just became the world’s first city to agree to host a research centre that will look into “clean meat”.

“We are proud to announce an MoU with industry leaders to set up the world’s first dedicated centre on cellular agriculture,” said Dr Rekha Singhal, dean of research, consultancy and research mobilization at the Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT), Matunga, according to the Times of India.

The newspaper further reports that the ICT’s Centre for Excellence in Cellular Agriculture is supported by Good Food Institute (GFI), a US-based non-profit. The research centre is dedicated to creating healthy and ‘clean meat’ which means meat that has been obtained without animal slaughter.

This comes in the wake of innovative creations like ‘plant meat’ which is used in the ‘Impossible Burger’ which feels and tastes like meat but is created entirely from plant ingredients. There’s also ‘tomato tuna’ which is supposedly healthier and cheaper than the fish product.

“With the help of the Mumbai centre, we could see more cell-based meat companies in India too, poised to grab a share of the $4.6 billion global meat substitutes market,” said a GFI spokesperson, TOI reports.