Gourmey, a French startup producing cultivated foie gras, has become the first company to apply for regulatory approval to sell cultivated meat in the European Union. The startup has also submitted applications in Singapore, Switzerland, the UK, and the US.
Before it goes on the market, the cultivated foie gras will need to be approved by the European Commission. Authorisation will be governed by the Novel Foods Regulation, said to be one of the most robust food safety frameworks in the world. The process is likely to take at least 18 months, and will include a thorough assessment of the safety and nutritional value of cultivated meat.
The potential social, economic, and environmental impacts of the product will also be considered, with input from member states and scientific experts at the European Food Safety Authority. If approved, the cultivated foie gras could be sold in all 27 EU countries.
It is unclear what will happen in Italy, which has banned cultivated meat; however, there have been suggestions that the ban could be unenforceable due to the government’s violation of EU scrutiny procedures. Gourmey’s submission comes a year after another cultivated meat company, Aleph Farms, applied for regulatory approval in Switzerland and the UK.
“Food innovation can coexist alongside culinary traditions”
A recent survey commissioned by GFI Europe found that more than half of consumers in 13 out of 15 European countries were in favour of cultivated meat being approved for sale if regulators found it to be safe and nutritious. This was even the case in Italy and Hungary, whose governments have been hostile towards cultivated meat.
Cultivated meat products have now been approved for sale in Singapore, the US, and Israel, while approvals in Australia, the UK, and Switzerland could also be on the horizon. However, there may be pushback against regulatory approval in the EU; earlier this year, agricultural ministers from Austria, France, and Italy, with support from delegations from several other countries, sent a note to the EU council urging a revision of the regulatory approval framework for cultivated meat. They claimed cultivated meat could be a threat to the economy, public health, and farmers, though GFI Europe criticised the note for citing a non-peer-reviewed study that differs from the existing scientific literature.
“It’s fantastic to see the first application to sell cultivated meat in the EU has been submitted,” said Seth Roberts, senior policy manager at GFI Europe. “This demonstrates that food innovation can coexist alongside our culinary traditions, providing consumers with foie gras made in a way that could reduce environmental impacts and animal welfare concerns, support investment, and provide future-proof jobs. Experts can now get to work, using one of the world’s most rigorous regulatory processes to assess the safety and nutritional qualities of cultivated meat.”
