–Purpose
Unifying Efforts to Advance
Regulations for Cellular Agriculture
–Overview
Cultivated foods have garnered increased attention from policymakers in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region as this emerging food technology can deliver a steady supply of protein without the environmental and ethical concerns associated with conventional meat production.
Yet, very few regulators in the 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.
To effectively bring cultivated food products to the market, the APAC Society for Cellular Agriculture and the Good Food Institute APAC established the APAC Regulatory Coordination Forum in 2023 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 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 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 trade barriers and cost to consumers.
“The regulatory forum is established to bring forth a platform to facilitate open and transparent discussions regarding regulatory matters in cellular agriculture. We hope 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.
”
“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.
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Peter Yu,
Program Director at APAC-SCA
Mirte Gosker,
Managing Director at GFI APAC
