Tough tests promised for meat made in lab

LAB-GROWN MEAT will require robust risk assessment before it finds its way on to UK shelves, the Food Standards Agency said yesterday.

The new product, also known as cultured or man-made meat, is produced by taking cells from animals and growing them as muscle outside the body to create an alternative to conventional meat such as steak or mince.

While there have been no applications for lab-grown meat in the UK, experts at the agency said commercially viable products could be available here within five to 10 years but would require a risk analysis and authorisation before it could be sold.

Experts made the comments as they set out how the independent government regulator will operate post-Brexit, as the UK is now independent of the European Food Safety Agency and the EU.

Current work includes requiring producers of foods ranging from chocolate to beer that contain cannabidiol from cannabis or hemp, claimed to have health qualities, to apply for authorisation to sell their products.

The agency is taking a close interest in a Government consultation on the future of genetically edited food, a new process to edit genes within species to deliver beneficial traits more quickly than selective breeding.

One of the new products that might arrive in British food soon is lab-grown beef or other products such as fish or poultry, with Singapore already approving a cultured poultry product.

Professor Rick Mumford, deputy director of science at the food agency, said yesterday that proponents of the “radical new approach” argue it could meet growing meat demand while addressing concerns over the environmental and ethical issues of traditional livestock production.