Nonprofit organisation Cellular Agriculture Australia (CAA) announces the launch of a new tool, Language Guide V1.0, developed to standardize and harmonise the terminology of the cellular agriculture industry.
Using secondary research and input from sector leaders across the APAC region, CAA’s new Language Guide sets a unified terminology and key terms. At the same time, it provides optional communication guidelines for marketing and brand positioning strategies to help companies address language inconsistencies in their activities and product descriptions.
Moreover, the CAA explains that a unified nomenclature is significant for the sector, the media, and consumers before approvals in the country. The cultivated meat company Vow is currently going through the first evaluations by food regulators in Australia. Additionally, other companies are also preparing to seek regulatory approval in 2024.
“The importance of clear, consistent and accurate language cannot be overstated. It plays a crucial role in our ability to build familiarity and trust in the cellular agriculture sector. This is also essential to minimise unnecessary scepticism and criticism generated from inconsistent and inappropriate language,” says Sam Perkins, CEO of CAA.
Shaping consumer expectation
CAA reports that despite regional efforts among stakeholders, there is a significant disparity in the sector’s terminology, including the definition of cellular agriculture, which is “surprisingly” inconsistent across different sources.
The language used across the sector is either too technical or confusing, argues the nonprofit. In its recent food safety publication, FAO/WHO has also called for urgent action to harmonise language use in the cellular agriculture industry, points out the nonprofit.
CAA also announced that it is developing targeted resources for the media and relevant government departments and agencies reporting on cellular agriculture.
Other CAA initiatives include a Pathways into Cell Ag research tool to help students and career-switchers break into cellular agriculture research. And in 2022, the nonprofit launched its first online course on cellular agriculture in collaboration with industry, academia, and regulatory organisations.
“Words have power. They shape consumers’ expectations and sensory experiences of various products. I have witnessed this phenomenon across a diverse range of products and consumers,” says Gie Liem, project contributor and Associate Professor of Sensory and Consumer Science at Deakin University.
