22 February 2020 | New Scientist | 41WI
LD
TYPE“ Unlike the real thing,
cultured meat is
almost cruelty-free”
is so innovative that we don’t have an example
to follow,” says Justyna Pałasińska at Pen & Tec
Consulting in Reading, UK, which helps food
companies negotiate the regulatory labyrinth.
Another unknown is what the labelling
requirements will be, which could have a
huge influence on consumer perceptions.
That is a further reason why eyes are on
Singapore: its regulatory regime is seen as
being more friendly to cultured meat than
those of the US or European Union. Last
November, the Singapore Food Agency (SFA)
released the country’s first “novel food”
regulations, in part to respond to looming
food security issues. The island city state has
almost no agriculture and imports 90 per cent
of its food. Cultured meat is seen as part of
the solution, says Kelvin Ng at the Singapore
Agency for Science, Technology and Research.
This will increasingly become a
consideration elsewhere, says Charles
Godfray, director of the Oxford Martin School
at the University of Oxford and co-author of
a recent World Economic Forum report on the
future of meat. “We can feed 7 billion, but by
mid-century, food security will be an issue.”
The SFA wouldn’t comment about whether
any company has yet submitted a novel food
for evaluation. Shiok told New Scientist that
it will file one later this year and the SFA says
it will process applications in just three to
six months. Once the regulatory authorities
receive an application, the key question will
be whether the meat is safe to eat. This may
be trickier than it sounds. One selling point
is that it is “clean”: that, unlike carcass meat,
it won’t be exposed to dangerous bacteria
during processing. “We don’t have to slaughter
animals, so there is less susceptibility to
contamination from faeces,” says Neta Lavon
of Israeli company Aleph Farms. But, ironically,
cultured meat may be too clean (see “Beneficial
bugs”, opposite).
Other food-safety issues may come to light
too. One possibility – albeit a remote one – is
that the cells will produce toxic metabolites,
perhaps misfolded prion proteins similar to
the ones that cause bovine spongiformAnother reason for the confidence coursing
through the veins of the cultured meat
industry is the success of plant-based meat
substitutes such as the Impossible and Beyond
burgers and the vegan sausage roll sold by the
UK bakery chain Greggs. But there are also
some salutary lessons from plant-based meats.
Despite their vegan halo, there is a growing
awareness that they are ultra-processed
foods often high in fat and salt. Worse, many
of the products flooding onto the market aren’t
good enough, says Robert Lawson, the former
head of meat-substitute company Quorn.
“Consumers are open to trying, but they will
walk away if they eat rubbish.”
The cultured meat industry is aware of this
risk. “We should always remember that we are
no different from any other food products outthere,” says David Wagstaff of US company
JUST, which is developing cultured chicken
meat. “Taste, quality, consistency are the
fundamentals to any product and if you
don’t get those three right, it doesn’t matter
how welfare-friendly you are, people won’t
buy your product again.”
This wariness is one of the biggest barriers
to commercialisation, says Swartz. “What’s
holding them back is the burden of being the
first to release a product. If it isn’t really good,
then it could make people less excited than
they could be.”
Another obstacle is red tape. Before cultured
meat can be sold and eaten, regulators will
have to be satisfied that it is fit for human
consumption. As yet, it isn’t clear how the
regulatory system will work. “Lab-grown meatThis cultured
salmon was
spawned in the
lab, not the sea >AL
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