Cell-Cultured Meat and the Regulatory Questions it Raises

A recent article in “Food Quality and Safety” describes the regulatory future of cell cultured meat and raises three issues (i) What federal agency should be responsible for overseeing such products? (ii) How should such products be regulated? (iii) How should the product be labeled? The agency responsible depends on the definition of cell cultured meat. Is it truly a meat? Is it FSIS or FDA? FSIS has been silent on this jurisdictional issue, noting when asked that the issue is under discussion within the administration. The FDA has taken a more active position and believes that they have the legal authority, the scientific expertise, and the procedural mechanisms in place to take hold of the issue. FDA’s approach at its public meeting in July focused heavily on gate-keeping questions. The overall message was that the FDA was highly receptive to fine-tuning its authority and to identify and activate a suitable gateway mechanism. Comments by the public revealed that some are advocating extreme caution and extensive research before any introduction of such products to the public while others, more hostile to traditional animal agriculture, arguing the sooner the better. A wide range of options for labeling was expressed—ranging from the extremely benign “clean meat,” to the highly pejorative, “fake meat,” with much in between. The main question remains whether cell culture meat will receive widespread consumer acceptance. This will depend heavily upon whether the consuming public has confidence that cell-cultured meal is safe, wholesome, properly labeled, and overseen by the appropriate government authorities. @ https://www.foodqualityandsafety.com/article/cell-cultured-meat-the-emerging-regulatory-landscape/?elq_mid=29674&elq_cid=10195538
Cell-Cultured Meat: The Emerging Regulatory Landscape

As the regulatory future of such products starts to come into focus, debates have been generated within the food industry over three interlocking issues.

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