Budapest Post

Cum Deo pro Patria et Libertate
Budapest, Europe and world news

Europe lags behind in lab-grown meat race

Europe lags behind in lab-grown meat race

While Singaporeans dine on stem-cell-produced chicken, industry warns Europe is reluctant.

When Singapore became the first country to approve and commercially sell lab-grown meat last month, Ira van Eelen couldn't help thinking the wrong continent was making the headlines.

"What’s happening in Singapore should have been happening in Europe," said Van Eelen, a board adviser to Eat Just, the company that produced the lab-grown chicken in Singapore.

Her father, Dutch scientist Willem van Eelen, pioneered and patented the technology which Eat Just had hoped to launch in the Netherlands. However, the Dutch Food Safety Authority (NVWA) shut down their request to hold tastings in 2018, saying it hadn't received EU approval.

Eat Just's experience reflects what industry insiders describe as a continent too reluctant and too slow to embrace a technology that could slash agricultural emissions and shore up food security — two of the EU's declared priorities.

Lab-grown meat — aka no-kill or cultured meat — is produced using muscular stem cells extracted from an animal and then grown in a large steel "bioreactor.” The cells are later moved to a watery gel where they bulk up into sinewy tissue.

The entire process can take place in a restaurant-sized space and doesn't require land-intensive livestock raising or the slaughter of methane-belching animals. The Singapore launch indicates the technology can be commercially viable, after long being dismissed as too expensive. The four-course chicken nugget dinner at the 1880 restaurant costs $23 and prices are expected to fall further.

But while Asia, the United States and even Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are jumping on the slaughter-free meat bandwagon, European policymakers have shown less appetite for the technology.

“Is this really the society we want for our children?” tweeted France’s Agriculture Minister Julien Denormandie in reaction to Eat Just's Singapore debut. “Me, NO. I say it clearly,” Denormandie continued. “Meat comes from life, not from laboratories. Count on me that in France, meat will stay natural and never artificial!”

Companies like Eat Just, which is based in San Francisco, say such skepticism means Europe risks losing out on a sector that analysts predict could make up over a third of the global meat market by 2040.

“We have so much very good technology in Europe that we could be up there with anybody, but if they don’t gear up in a different way then we will lose out and lose out big time," Van Eelen warned.

Safe but slow


Part of the issue is Europe's regulatory process. Lab-grown meat will need to be approved by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) under the EU's novel foods legislation. The bloc streamlined those laws in 2018, but it can still take three years or more until applications are approved and green-lighted by EU country representatives in the so-called PAFF committee.

Van Eelen said she wept when the Dutch NVWA shut down Eat Just's bid to hold a tasting in 2018, sealing up samples of cultured duck chorizo at three restaurants because the product did not have EU approval.

"I started crying very silently in my car … I had to stop by the side of the road," she recalled.

“It was super sad that my government didn’t understand what we were offering,” Van Eelen added. “For me personally, it was very painful, as I felt that I brought my country a huge present that they didn’t want to open.”

The NVWA referred requests for comment on the issue to their statement at the time which attributed the move to the EU's novel food legislation. Van Eelen disputes this, saying sales to restaurants were made before the legislation took effect.

“The reality is that they hadn’t established a regulatory framework for cultured meat at the time,” said Josh Tetrick, Eat Just's CEO and founder. “I wish that hadn’t been true, but it was — and as a result there was no launch.”

Wolfgang Gelbmann, a senior scientific officer on EFSA’s nutrition unit, said the process of growing meat in a lab carries potential risks. Cells used in bioreactors could become contaminated, for example, and there's a chance of “dysregulation” of cells that have been multiplied many times.

“You need to replace all the nutrients that a cell normally gets through the bloodstream, the intercellular and micro and macronutrients," Gelbmann noted. "These cells need to be added to the medium and there’s no immune system in this bioreactor, so we’d ask … how are these reactors kept from microbial contamination?”

Still, he added, the technology's challenges are not insurmountable and it is “definitely possible” to make safe in-vitro meat.

For the moment, however, the lengthy regulatory delays are prompting more European companies to look beyond EU borders as they seek to move to market quickly. No company has yet applied for EU novel food approval for their lab-grown meat products.

Mosa Meat, for example, is based in the Dutch city of Maastricht and hopes to bring its first cell-grown meat products to market in 2022, according to COO Peter Verstrate. However, he said there is “no doubt” its first offerings will be sold outside Europe because of the long approval procedure.

“We won’t shy away from applying elsewhere if that brings us to the market faster,” Verstrate said. “That’s not a threat, just a fact of life.”

Benjamina Bollag, the founder and CEO of U.K. startup Higher Steaks, agreed that Europe was lagging behind. A few months of extra wait-time for regulatory reasons would not affect her plans, she said, but “if it’s triple the time, then it doesn’t make sense” to launch in Europe.

Tetrick said Eat Just's next big launch is likely to be in the U.S., hopefully in 2021. “It does seem like the U.S. regulators are a bit further along than the EU regulators on this,” he said, noting that the U.S. Department of Agriculture is already gathering information about cell-based meat for its labeling rules.

New meat vs. old meat


Potential pushback from Europe's traditional meat sector is another issue.

The livestock industry has sought to protect descriptors for what constitutes "meat," most recently supporting a failed bid in the European Parliament to prevent plant-based products from using terms like "veggie burger." (A similar law was successfully passed in France earlier this year.) Farm lobby groups argue that like vegan products, lab-grown meats could mislead consumers about what they're really eating.

“Let's call a spade a spade,” reads a letter signed by Europe’s six biggest animal meat lobby groups, ahead of the October Parliament vote. It argued that Europe’s "[meat] imitation industry has taken advantage of a European loophole to hijack these powerful common denominations in its favour.”

One of the parliamentary amendments ultimately rejected in October had sought to reserve use of the word meat “exclusively for edible parts of the animals.” It indicated that meat descriptors might not apply for any process that could "alter the internal muscle fibre structure of the meat," which could have posed another hurdle for the cultured meat industry.

“If the more political side of the application process starts to hinder us then I could definitely see [our] operations moving outside of Europe,” said Verstrate from Mosa Meat.

AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Trump Says Ukraine Can Fully Restore Borders with NATO Backing
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Germany Weighs Excluding France from Key European Fighter Jet Programme
Cyberattack Disrupts Check-in and Boarding Systems at Major European Airports
Björn Borg Breaks Silence: Memoir Reveals Addiction, Shame and Cancer Battle
When Extremism Hijacks Idealism: How the Baader-Meinhof Gang Emerged and Fell
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
Trump Orders $100,000 Fee on H-1B Visas and Launches ‘Gold Card’ Immigration Pathway
France’s Looming Budget Crisis and Political Fracture Raise Fears of Becoming Europe’s “Sick Man”
Three Russian MiG-31 Jets Breach Estonian Airspace in ‘Unprecedentedly Brazen’ NATO Incident
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
One in Three Europeans Now Uses TikTok, According to the Chinese Tech Giant
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
NATO Deploys ‘Eastern Sentry’ After Russian Drones Violate Polish Airspace
The New Life of Novak Djokovic
German police raid AfD lawmaker’s offices in inquiry over Chinese payments
Volkswagen launches aggressive strategy to fend off Chinese challenge in Europe’s EV market
France Erupts in Mass ‘Block Everything’ Protests on New PM’s First Day
Poland Shoots Down Russian Drones in Airspace Violation During Ukraine Attack
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Macron Appoints Sébastien Lecornu as Prime Minister Amid Budget Crisis and Political Turmoil
Vatican hosts first Catholic LGBTQ pilgrimage
Apple Unveils iPhone 17 Series, iPhone Air, Apple Watch 11 and More at 'Awe Dropping' Event
France joins Eurozone’s ‘periphery’ as turmoil deepens, say investors
France Faces New Political Crisis, again, as Prime Minister Bayrou Pushed Out
Nayib Bukele Points Out Belgian Hypocrisy as Brussels Considers Sending Army into the Streets
France, at an Impasse, Heads Toward Another Government Collapse
×