Italian cultivated meat ban may be unenforceable, why price parity for plant-based meat is so hard, and processing the ultra-processed discourse
The Good Food Institute Europe
Advancing plant-based and cultivated meat in Europe to build a better food system for people, planet and animals.
This month: Iceland’s prime minister wants her country to ‘pave the way’ for cultivated meat, a Danish business wants to help startups scale up precision fermentation, and applications open for the 2024 cohort of GFI’s Alternative Protein Project student movement.
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The European Commission has confirmed that Italy violated a key EU scrutiny procedure – meaning the controversial law may be unenforceable.
The law banned the production and marketing of cultivated meat, and the use of names such as ‘salami’ and ‘steak’ for plant-based products, introducing fines of up to €60,000 for each violation.
But in rushing to pass the law, the Italian government withdrew a notification to the TRIS procedure – intended to stop regulatory barriers arising within the EU’s internal market. By doing this before member states and the Commission could give their views, the law now stands on unstable ground. A communication from the Commission pointed out that Italy has breached an EU procedure. As settled in the relevant case law of the Court of Justice of the EU, following this violation, national tribunals could declare the law inapplicable. In effect, this means that if a company based anywhere in the bloc were to receive EU regulatory approval and start selling cultivated meat in Italy, any effort to stop them could be dismissed in court.
It is clear a new approach is needed in Italy to allow all stakeholders to participate in an open and evidence-based debate, including the country’s cultivated meat researchers and experts whose voices have so far been excluded – and some of whom feel they must now move abroad to pursue their careers.
Broader attempts to frustrate the progress of alternative proteins have seen an alarming uptick across Europe in recent months.
It’s now vital that European governments and the EU adopt a coherent approach to supporting the development of plant-based foods, cultivated meat and fermentation.
Top stories
European agriculture ministers presented an item at January’s EU AGRIFISH Council meeting calling for a radical regulatory overhaul for cultivated meat. The non-binding ‘any other business’ item was tabled by Austria’s Agriculture Minister, although the country’s Ministry of Health – responsible for food safety – has said its views do not reflect those of the Austrian government. Danish and Dutch delegates voiced their disagreement, and Health and Food Safety Commissioner Stella Kyriakides pointed out that current Novel Food regulations already ensure human health and consumer interests are protected. Alarmingly, the note referenced frequently reported misinformation about cultivated meat, and was an unnecessary attempt to undermine Europe’s world-leading regulatory system and prevent Europe from taking a leading role in this global industry.
Icelandic Prime Minister and acting Minister of Food, Fisheries and Agriculture Katrín Jakobsdóttir spoke out in support of cultivated meat this week after enjoying her first taste of cultivated quail. Following a tasting event near Reykjavík organised by Australian startup Vow and Icelandic biotech company ORF Genetics, she said it was clear that our food systems needed to change to feed a growing global population. She added that cultivated meat was one of the solutions to the climate challenge and that the Icelandic authorities were determined to pave the way for adopting new solutions in the country. This is a welcome recognition of the transformative impact of cultivated meat by one of Europe’s leaders.
The Czech government has announced an investment of nearly €200,000 in Brno-based cultivated meat company Mewery. The company, which develops cultivated pork, says the grant will enable it to carry out studies aimed at improving efficiency as it prepares for scale-up. The funding, from the CzechInvest Technology Incubator, follows other cultivated meat investments from the EU’s Horizon programme and countries such as Germany, Spain and the Netherlands. With governments continuing to invest, the EU needs to adopt a clear position to ensure the benefits of these investments are realised here.
Denmark-headquartered bioproduction company 21st.BIO has announced it is making its production platform available to companies who want to develop innovative sustainable products. The move is intended to mitigate the cost and time involved in developing these products while providing access to industrial-scale production technology. With infrastructure playing a key role in enabling fermentation-made foods to reach consumers, initiatives like this are crucial to helping startups smooth the pathway to commercialisation.
A ‘first of its kind’ Microbial Food Hub has been established at Imperial College London following £14 million funding via UKRI’s new Engineering Biology Missions. The hub, led by Dr Rodrigo Ledesma-Amaro, will bring together academic experts, industrial partners and food producers to help commercialise products and ingredients made through biomass, precision and traditional fermentation methods. This investment will help develop sustainable, healthy products that will help boost food security and is further evidence of the UK government’s continued commitment to alternative protein R&D.
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A recent report published by Churchill Fellow Jenny Chapman explores the growing discourse around ‘ultra-processing’ and what it means for plant-based meat, adding important context to an important but often heated debate. The report expands on other recent work, and makes recommendations to ensure healthy sustainable foods aren’t caught in the crossfire. Ensuring robust and consistent ways to evaluate foods will be key to informing the journey towards healthier, more sustainable diets, and this report adds important context to this ongoing conversation.
The ingredients used to make plant-based meat are often cheaper than conventional meat, and it is far more efficient to make meat from plants than feeding crops to animals, so why is price parity such an enduring challenge? A new report by Anthony Warner at New Food Innovation sets out to answer this question. Prices do seem to be falling –ProVeg has found price parity is already becoming the norm in the Netherlands by some metrics, and announcements about schemes inHungary and Denmark show retailers have a role to play. But Anthony Warner’s report argues that production is a key part of the puzzle, and streamlining the number of steps needed to produce plant-based meat could present a huge opportunity to make this sustainable food more affordable.
Meet the researcher
From Portugal to Türkiye, students from across Europe are transforming their universities into dynamic engines of food innovation as part of the global Alt Protein Project. With 15 active chapters – up from nine last year – applications are open again for students to join this growing movement. Our Senior Science and Technology Manager Seren Kell talks about the incredible progress they’ve already achieved, from developing courses to building connections between startups and universities – and explains how you can join.
Events, opportunities and resources:
Events:
Jobs, funding and resources:
Research opportunity: Nature Communications – Sustainable Food Production Collection call for submissions (28 June 2024)
Our impact
Ryan Grant Little welcomed Good Food Institute President and Founder Bruce Friedrich – who Ryan says is the reason he invests in alternative proteins – onto his Another ClimateTech Podcast.
The pair chatted about the outlook for these new foods and why they are so crucial to the fight against climate change.
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10moIt's great to see leaders like Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir of Iceland recognizing the value of cultivated meat 🍔 and paving the way for its adoption in her country. It's clear that the global food system needs to evolve, and cultivated meat is one of the solutions to the climate challenge. 🌍 It's also encouraging to see governments like the Czech Republic investing in cultivated meat startups like Mewery, and companies like 21st.BIO offering their production technology to help fermentation startups scale up. 🌱 The future of alternative proteins is looking bright! #CultivatedMeat #Fermentation #SustainableFoodSolutions #FoodTech
Digital marketing professional with expansive communications and program management experience in Silicon Valley.
10moYes, any ban on alt proteins is a roadblock to food innovation. This said, I hope Iceland will couple its adoption of cultivated meats with a halt to anachronistic whale hunting. And that Denmark will do the same in relation to the unfathomable cruel killing of dolphins in the Farao Islands. Consistency is key in all strategies and especially so when it comes to the wellbeing of #Nature.
Leader and Envoy in AI & Business Ethics | Cultured Meat Advocate
10moI have already written about this (Italy) in great detail. The ban might not be enforceable officially, but there will always be ways to sanction companies in some other way. And the damage has been done; many people will have been influenced by this message that even the attempted ban tried to achieve. Consumers don't trust the Food Act, and they don't trust that the foods that are approved are necessarily harmless. They think that animals are the best way of producing protein, and cultivated meat companies are so enthralled in their processes that they don't even try to market their products as safe, while the dairy and animal meat industries keep pushing their agendas.