Jurisdictions around the world are actively reviewing how they authorise novel foods. The UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) has a unique opportunity to completely rethink their approach after leaving the EU. A new report considers how their Novel Foods Regulatory Framework could be improved. New concepts such as collaborative regulation and conditional authorisation and supervision could significantly improve the regulatory approval process for foods such as cultured meat and seafood.

Another step towards more modern, mechanistic and humane approaches for the safety evaluation of new materials as the UK government responds to public pressure and reinstates a ban on animal testing.

Our roundup of the latest cultured meat developments includes announcements from Mosa Meats, Meatable, Aleph Farms, Smart MCs, and UPSIDE, plus commercially-relevant research from Tufts, Kobe University, and Enzymit, FDA approval for consumption of gene-edited pigs, regulatory and governmental perspectives on cultured meat safety research priorities from Vireo and New Harvest, and new labelling requirements in Texas.

The U.S. National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) is seeking feedback from a broad cross-section of stakeholders as they refresh their Environmental, Health, and Safety (EHS) Research Strategy and reflect on progress toward the goals set in 2011. We encourage individuals, non-governmental organizations, academic and research institutions, and the private sector interested in the responsible development of nanotechnology to join us as we contribute to creating an updated NNI EHS Research Strategy.

At Vireo, we keep close surveillance on commercialization and regulatory developments in cultured and alt-protein meat and seafood, and we have rarely seen as much activity as this! Here is our roundup of the latest developments…