Lab-grown meat could be on sale in the UK within a few years, according to the food regulator, with applications already in for steak, beef, chicken and foie gras, and a further 15 applications expected in the next two years.
On Tuesday, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) was awarded £1.6 million in government funding to develop an effective process for assessing the safety of new foods. It said the UK was an attractive market as it had large numbers of vegans, vegetarians and flexitarians, a greater openness to new foods than many other European countries and a large financial sector that supported start-ups.
Cultured meat is produced by growing cages and does not require the rearing or slaughter of animals. Cultured chicken is approved for sale to consumers in Singapore in 2020 and in the US in 2023, while cultured steak is approved in Israel in 2024. Dozens of companies around the world are developing similar products, including for pork and fish.
Livestock farming is a major cause of greenhouse gas emissions and environmental destruction. Cultured meat production requires much less land and water and avoids animal welfare problems. Although cultured meat has the same cells as meat from slaughtered animals, ensuring it is safe for human consumption is still vital, says Professor Robin May, chief scientific adviser at the FSA. "Clearly companies are aiming for products indistinguishable from the animal equivalent, but the way they achieve this is radically different."
The cells are grown in liquid and encouraged to develop into muscle, blood and fat tissue. "Usually this is done with a very complex cocktail of nutrient media and growth factors," he says. "Are they all safe? Because there may be some left in the final product. Also, are there any genetic changes in the cells that might make them unsafe in some way?"
But May said the developments are exciting: "There's a lot of potential here for all sorts of benefits in terms of wellbeing, sustainability, health and just consumer choice."
The FSA's project to develop the assessment criteria will take two years and will involve discussions with academic experts and companies. This is expected to result in an efficient approval process that is expected to take companies two years to complete. Applications already submitted to the FSA are currently being analyzed. | BGNES
