Cellular meat is not going to flood your supermarket shelves anytime soon. Across the world, only four companies have got regulatory approval. They are organising tasting sessions in restaurants and “pop ups” but it will take several years for companies to scale up manufacturing processes to produce sufficient volumes of products at reasonable costs (even assuming that it is only the adventurous, conscious and rich customers who will be the early adopters of cell based meat and dairy products.
But cell based meat, milk and seafood can wean customers off the real thing in a way that plant based foods cannot. The plant based foods is a rapidly growing industry and is an 11 billion dollar in the world. Plant based meats have environmental benefits over conventional meat but it is hard for these “fake meats” to cater to the aspirational and cultural aspects of a meat dish. Which is where cell based meat comes in.
Some countries are taking proactive steps in developing regulation for this food innovation. Singapore which imports almost its food is doing so because it wants to secure food supplies (grow 30% of its food by 2030). One company has received regulatory approval. Netherlands wants to remain a food exporter even as they hit net zero targets. The US is another front runner and has given regulatory approval to two countries.
The encouraging thing is that regulators are innovating around the regulatory process itself. User friendly websites are encouraging companies to get in touch.. Enquiries and responses are promptly answered. Regulators are righty concerned about safety and health of consumers and go through a process that takes a year to two to understand the product and the production process, assess the risks and develop risk mitigation processes. However, the process is collaborative with regulators acknowledging that they are learning along with the companies. Most importantly the regulators appreciate that the companies they are dealing with are start-ups and do not have an army of lawyers. They are going out of their way to make the whole process transparent. Some of them are even making previous application drafts available so that companies can develop better applications.
Sections
Section 1: First 12 minutes Ambika’s background, why cell-based food and a global overview Section 2: Next 30 minutes regulation and government support.
Host : Sanjoy Sanyal, Founder Regain Paradise
New Ventures Website
⁠www.regainparadise.org⁠
Guest : Ambika Hiranandani
Regulatory Affairs and Strategic Partnerships, Senara
⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/ambika-hiranandani-b4815616b/⁠