FSA: More Data Required to Determine Safety of Cultured Meats
The UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) recently conducted an analysis of hazards associated with cultured meat products (also known as “cell-based” or “cultivated” meat) and identified several risk areas while acknowledging that there are still existing knowledge and data gaps.
FSA conducted its hazard analysis of cultured meat products to support the development of an appropriate regulatory framework to ensure that products made through cell-culturing technology are safe for human consumption. At present, only one authority, the Singapore Food Agency, has approved a cell-cultured meat product for sale on the Singaporean market. Additionally, in 2019, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Services (USDA’s FSIS) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) took an approach to collaborate in regulating cultured meat. Recently, FDA recently granted its first “no questions asked” letters to two producers of cultured meat products, moving the novel foods one step closer to commercialization in the U.S. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) also attempted to characterize the terminologies, production process, and existing regulatory frameworks around cell-cultured products in October 2022.