The Japan Association for Cellular Agriculture (JACA) has released an extensive report, in English, analyzing international trends in the safety and regulatory assessment of cultivated meat.
JACA, which works on policy-making to bring cell-based foods to the Japanese market, has plans to propose safety assessment criteria for Japanese regulatory authorities to continue building the country’s Novel Foods framework.
With this report, the group is taking proactive steps to align Japan’s safety assessment criteria for cultivated foods with international standards, involve global experts in refining these criteria, and address the domestic shortage of knowledgeable food safety professionals.
According to Megumi Avigail Yoshitomi, JACA’s Representative Director, the goal is to create a robust and harmonized regulatory framework that serves as a model for Japan and the global community. Japan, for its part, would consider the appropriateness of the international trends based on the country’s specific hygiene requirements.
She explains, “As the next step, JACA plans to propose safety assessment criteria for Japanese regulatory authorities that achieve both international harmonization and optimization under domestic regulations based on this report.”
Calling for expert feedback
Divided into four sections, the report is based on literature reviews, surveys, and interviews with Japanese and international cultivated meat and seafood companies, as well as external collaborators like The Good Food Institute.
Section 1 outlines the safety requirements for cultivated food products, incorporating insights from key global regulatory stakeholders and experts such as the Singapore Food Agency (SFA), European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), UK Food Standards Agency (FSA), US FDA and Department of Agriculture/FSIS, South Korea MFDS, and Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ), among others. It also considers recent publications and consultations on cell-based food safety, such as the FDA’s pre-market approval of GOOD Meat and UPSIDE Foods and the FAO/WHO expert report, among others.
Section 2 describes the manufacturing methods and substances used in cultivated food production, covering the techniques and processes involved, from cell line establishment to bioreactors to scaffolding materials and growth media and other essential components. According to the authors, it is essential to ensure transparency and safety in the production process and to help regulatory authorities understand the technical aspects of cultivated food production.
Section 3 delves into the potential hazards associated with cultivated food products and the measures taken to control these hazards. Lastly, Section 4 summarizes recommended information for regulatory submissions for the approval of cultivated meat and seafood products, supplemented with case studies from company interviews.
Yoshitomi says that JACA is seeking feedback from experts in global food safety to refine and validate its report to ensure that the proposed safety assessment criteria are robust and internationally aligned. She adds, “To ensure that this proposal activity serves as a good model for both domestic and international authorities and industries, I would like to receive feedback on this report from many experts in global food safety.”
JACA’s report International Trends in the Safety and Regulatory Assessment of Cultivated Food can be found here.
