Nowadays sales of lab grown meat to consumers are approved only in three countries: Singapore, Israel and the U.S.A. Understanding the reason for which it has been developed only there, can help acknowledge why it is not already happening in Europe.
In 2019 Singapore introduced a regulatory framework that allows “alternative protein products that do not have a history of being consumed as food” to be sold. The first regulatory approval for cultivated meat, which was developed by an American company, happened in December 2020.
Why Singapore? The country is barely 750 km² and only 1% of its land is available for food production. This forces it to import 90% of its food and to be highly dependent on other countries. Singapore sees in cultivated meat an efficient solution to achieve its goal of producing 30% of the country's food by 2030. Therefore, the country is: investing in infrastructures to help start-ups develop their products, giving a clear regulatory framework and adopting an efficient approval process.
Israel shares some common denominators with Singapore: land and water are scarce, preventing the country from being self-sufficient. Hence, also Israel’s government is sustaining the development of cultured meat. Furthermore, in June 2023 the first synthetic meat products were approved in the USA by the Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Agriculture to avoid the delocalization of its companies.
In Europe, the decision of whether a novel food product can be sold across all member States must be made by the European Commission together with E.U. Member States. However, this will probably take at least 18 months, thrice the time needed in Singapore. Since synthetic meat is not a game changer for the EU as it is for Singapore or Israel, from the legislative point of view no effort is being made to incentivise it. Because of this, companies will likely choose other countries to build their production simply because a clearer regulatory pathway attracts more investors.
In conclusion, it seems evident that how much governments encourage companies and invest in open-access research will be crucial for the role Europe will play in the transition from an exclusively animal meat market to a hybrid one.
Bibliography
Baker, A. (Jan 9th 2023). How Israel Became the Global Center For Alternative Meat Tech. Time.
Meat no longer requires animal slaughter. (Sep 28th 2021). the Economist.
Morrison, O. (Aug 4th 2023). UK's first cultivated meat approval submitted. Foodnavigator.
Morrison, O. (Jul 26th 2023). First application for cultivated meat approval in Europe submitted. Foodnavigator.
Singapore is the world leader in selling cultivated meat. (Jul 20th 2023). the Economist.
when will cultivated meat be avaible in Europe. (2023, 11 3). Retrieved from gfi europe.
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