Unifying Efforts to Advance
Regulations for Cellular Agriculture
Overview
Cultivated foods have garnered increased attention from policymakers and regulators in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region as an emerging food technology that can deliver a steady supply of protein without the environmental and ethical concerns associated with conventional meat production.
Despite 11 global approvals, very few regulators within the APAC region have experience processing cultivated food applications and therefore have questions around existing safety assessment methodologies and the appropriate controls required to prevent potential hazards.
Recognising that collaborative sharing is a key factor to effectively bring cultivated food products to the market, the APAC Society for Cellular Agriculture instigated this programme and collaborated with the Good Food Institute APAC in 2023 to establish the APAC Regulatory Coordination Forum as a formal mechanism for continuous and systematic cross-border dialogue between companies, industry associations, think tanks, governmental agencies and food regulators in different jurisdictions.
Scope
The aim of the APAC Regulatory Coordination Forum is to provide guidance rather than mandate how regulations should be. It serves as a platform to transparently share information, collaborate on inputs such as data or safety assessments, and provide open discussions and viewpoints between partners across the APAC region.
The work of the APAC Regulatory Coordination Forum focuses on all aspects of cultivated foods fit for human consumption, and is intended to complement activities carried out by the regulators, to assist in the mutual recognition of coordinated regulatory frameworks in APAC, and in doing so to minimise unnecessary trade barriers and cost to consumers.
“The APAC Regulatory Coordination Forum is a brainchild project of the APAC Society for Cellular Agriculture. We understand that such a platform can facilitate open and transparent discussions regarding regulatory matters in cellular agriculture. We hope that through the Forum, we will be able to build a repository of information that can aid in regulatory coordination across the APAC region, while providing a pathway for new jurisdictions to quickly get up to speed.
Ultimately, we envision a clear and effective contingency for the industry as a whole towards commercialisation of cultivated food products across the region. We encourage the participation of any potential new members vested in these matters, located among any of our APAC member countries.”
Peter Yu,
Program Director at APAC-SCA
“Cultivated meat outperforms all forms of conventional meat when renewable energy is used at a production facility, requiring dramatically lower levels of land and water and reducing meat’s climate footprint by up to 92 percent. It eliminates the risk of zoonotic disease spread from meat production and reduces the risk of antimicrobial resistance. Cultivated meat can deliver on the tastes and flavours consumers want without depleting the oceans or trees in the rainforests. It’s simply a smarter way to make meat—full stop.
In order to allow this innovation to come to full fruition, it’s critical to have a strong regulatory framework in place to maximise its potential to improve food security and mitigate environmental degradation.”
Mirte Gosker,
Managing Director at GFI APAC
