FAO has prepared a short factsheet for food safety authorities to grasp the contents of a previously released publication, titled, “Food Safety Aspects of Cell-Based Food.”

Companies UPSIDE Foods and GOOD Meat both recently announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) gave them a Grant of Inspection (GOI) and label approval to sell cultivated chicken.

Cultivated meat (i.e., cell-cultured meat) has been promoted as an alternative to the livestock industry as a more sustainable, safer, and healthier means of food production. However, several regulatory and safety hurdles must be addressed for cultivated meat to reach the commercial market, as it has not yet been declared safe for consumption in the U.S. Safety considerations for cell-cultured meat include the components utilized (the raw ingredients, the source of cells, scaffolds, and bioreactors), the introduction of adventitious agents, and the presence of drug/chemical residues in the final food product. 

The first global report on the food safety aspects of cell-based foods has been published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO). The report is intended to provide a solid scientific basis to begin establishing regulatory frameworks and effective systems to ensure the safety of cell-based foods.

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.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has completed its second premarket consultation for a food made from cultured animal cells intended for human consumption. FDA evaluated the information submitted by GOOD Meat Inc. and has no further questions at this time about the company’s safety conclusion. 

n April 5, 2023, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)/World Health Organization (WHO) Scientific Advice Program will host a webinar for the release of a new publication, titled, Food Safety Aspects of Cell-Based Food.

Following the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) premarket approval of a cultured chicken meat product from UPSIDE Foods (also known as “cell-based” or “lab-grown” meat), U.S. and Chinese food safety regulatory officials conferred in an online event on the global adoption of cultivated meat and other innovative foods.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has completed its first premarket consultation for cultured meat (also known as “cell-based” or “lab-grown” meat), in response to a submission from company UPSIDE Foods, and has raised no questions about the products’ food safety. FDA expects cell-based meat products to be ready for the U.S. market in the near future.

On November 1–4, 2022, a group of 24 experts from 15 countries gathered in the Republic of Singapore for the first global consolation on the safety of cell-based foods (also known as “cultured” or “lab-grown” foods). The meeting was convened by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) to identify the food safety hazards associated with cell-based foods.