Food Standards Agency (FSA), in collaboration with Food Standards Scotland (FSS), have been awarded £1.6 million in funding to launch a programme for cell-cultivated products (CCPs) to make sure they are safe for consumers to eat before they are approved for sale.
CCPs are new foods made without using traditional farming methods such as rearing livestock or growing plants and grains. Using science and technology, cells from plants or animals are grown in a controlled environment to make a food product.
The UK is one of the largest potential markets for CCPs in Europe but currently, there aren’t any approved for human consumption here. This is because CCPs are new, complex and unlike anything previously available in the UK.
The funding is being awarded from Government’s Engineering Biology Sandbox Fund (EBSF) to launch an innovative sandbox programme for cell-cultivated products (CCPs).
For the two-year sandbox program, FSA and FSS will recruit a new team for the purpose of gathering scientific evidence on cell-cultured foods and the technology used for their production. The information gathered will be used to inform evidence-based recommendations and address questions before any cell-based foods are allowed to enter the UK market, and will help FSA/FSS guide industry on how to safely produce these foods and demonstrate the safety of the foods.
The sandbox program will also facilitate pre-application support to cell-based food manufacturers and answer their questions on labeling and other considerations. It will enable FSA/FSS to process cell-based food applications more quickly and better support businesses. The program will also aid the development of approaches that can be applied to other innovative foods.
