New GFI Report Identifies Critical Skill Gaps in India’s Plant-Based and Cultivated Meat Value Chains
The Good Food Institute India (GFI India) has released a comprehensive analysis of India’s smart protein talent landscape, revealing a mismatch between the country’s educational output and the industry’s current and future workforce needs. Despite India producing nearly 250,000 graduates annually in relevant disciplines, the smart protein sector continues to face a shortage of job-ready, sector-specific talent, particularly in high-growth areas such as bioprocessing, cell culture, extrusion technologies, analytical methods, …
Wildtype and UPSIDE Foods Gain Early Win in Lawsuit Against Texas’ Cultivated Meat Ban
A federal judge has denied the State of Texas’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit challenging Texas’s ban on the sale of cultivated meat. The lawsuit has been brought by public interest law firm the Institute for Justice, on behalf of Californian cultivated meat and seafood companies UPSIDE Foods and Wildtype. US District Judge Alan Albright held that the plaintiffs’ dormant Commerce Clause claim may proceed. However, he denied the companies’ …
Virginia Lawmakers Consider Labeling Bill for Plant-Based and Lab-Grown Meat Alternatives
The Virginia General Assembly is currently reviewing proposed legislation that would impose specific labeling requirements on plant-based, cell-cultured, and other non-traditional meat products. Senate Bill 186, introduced by Senator Angelia Williams Graves (D–District 21), seeks to define and regulate what it terms “misbranded” meat and poultry products. Under the proposed bill, any food item marketed as a meat or poultry product but containing a “manufactured-protein food product,” a category encompassing …
EU Biotech Act Excludes Novel Foods From Regulatory Sandboxes in “Missed Opportunity”
The European Commission has published the new Biotech Act, which aims to boost the EU’s global competitiveness in biotechnology. The Act is mainly focused on the health sector, but also includes measures that could help commercialise the findings of European researchers working on techniques such as precision fermentation. Nonprofit think tank GFI Europe has welcomed parts of the Act, including plans to expand the advice regulators provide to innovators bringing …
UK Publishes Its First Safety Guidance for Cultivated Products
The UK’s Food Standards Agency (FSA) has partnered with Food Standards Scotland (FSS) to publish the country’s first safety guidance for cultivated products. The documents have been produced by the FSA and FSS’s CCP Sandbox Program, which focuses on cultivated foods derived from animal cells. Several pieces of safety guidance are set to be published; of these, two are already available. The first confirms that cultivated products made using animal …
Netherlands First EU Country to Approve Public Tastings of Fermentation-Based Foods
The Netherlands has become the first EU country to allow public tastings of novel foods produced through fermentation. This new policy applies to products made using precision and biomass fermentation techniques, including animal-free alternatives such as cheese, eggs, and fats. Under this policy, companies can host tasting events for these fermentation-based products prior to receiving full market authorization. The tastings will take place in controlled environments, with safety protocols in …
Hungarian Parliament Votes to Ban Production & Sale of Cultivated Meat
On November 18, the Hungarian parliament voted to ban the production and sale of cultivated meat products. The motion passed with 140 votes in favor, 10 against, and 18 abstentions. Hungary previously spoke out against cultivated meat when it held the European Council Presidency last year. The Presidency sent a note to EU delegations claiming that meat and dairy consumption is an important part of the “European way of life”, …
UPSIDE Foods Returns to Court to Challenge Florida’s Cultivated Meat Ban
In August of last year, cultivated chicken producer UPSIDE Foods joined forces with the Institute for Justice to file a lawsuit against Florida’s cultivated meat ban. As reported by Courthouse News Service, UPSIDE claims that Florida cannot impose limits on interstate trade due to the US Constitution’s Commerce Clause. The company says only the federal government can regulate poultry products under the Poultry Products Inspection Act (PPIA). In April of …
New Roundtable Will Discuss Creation of a Pan-European Regulatory Sandbox for Food Biomanufacturing
Think-and-do tank the Ministry of Future Affairs is preparing to host a policy roundtable to discuss a brief titled Closing the European Food Innovation Gap! A Framework for a Pan-European Regulatory Sandbox for Emerging Foods. The event will take place at the European Parliament in Brussels on November 12 between 13:00 and 15:00. It will be hosted in collaboration with Future Affairs Consulting and Enterprise Estonia. The roundtable will feature …
Abu Dhabi to Develop Regulatory Framework for Novel Foods Such as Cultivated Proteins
The Abu Dhabi Agriculture and Food Safety Authority (ADAFSA) has partnered with the Abu Dhabi Quality and Conformity Council (QCC) and the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO) to develop a regulatory framework for novel foods. The strategic initiative aims to establish a comprehensive, streamlined registration system aligned with a range of international best practices. It will reduce the registration period for novel foods by six to nine months. The framework …