Dutch cultivated meat and seafood companies gear up for first legally sanctioned cell-based tastings

25 Jan 2024 --- Meatable has submitted its dossier to hold the first legally sanctioned cultivated meat tasting in the Netherlands following the launch of an independent Expert Committee to evaluate requests for cultivated meat and seafood tastings.

If it gets the green light, the Dutch biotech company will be approved to hold a tasting under controlled circumstances, signaling a major move forward for cultivated meat in the Netherlands. It would make the Netherlands the first country in the EU to make pre-approval tastings possible.

The approval process involves the Committee investigating company documents, including safety methods, and providing feedback.

Significant step toward regulation
An independent Expert Committee — which includes a toxicologist, microbiologist, physician and an ethical expert — has been launched by the Cellular Agriculture Netherlands Foundation (CANS) on behalf of the Dutch government which shows its support for the burgeoning cellular agriculture industry. 

This allows Dutch companies to submit request approvals to hold tastings, which is considered “a final hurdle” on the path to holding the first approved cultivated tastings in the EU. 

Meatable CEO is expecting its products to be enjoyed by consumers (Image credit: Meatable).Tastings allow future cell-based consumers to experience the taste and texture of new cultured products and understand what they look and taste like, and have the same nutritional profile as traditional meat. They can also educate people about the role cultivated meat can play in meeting sustainability goals.

Meatable is expecting to hold its first tasting soon.

“This is another important step forward in approving cultivated meat. The Netherlands has long been the pioneer of cultivated meat, which is further cemented by this latest development, and we thank the Dutch Government, CANS) and HollandBIO for their joint efforts to make this possible.”

“We can’t wait to invite people to try our delicious pork sausages and experience for themselves that it doesn’t just look and taste like meat, it is meat.”

The Netherlands is home to several companies working on developing cell-based meat and seafood and is seen as a driving force for food tech in Europe. 

Biotechnology firm Upstream Foods is developing a novel ingredient to uplevel seafood alternatives by using cell-culture methods to make the tastiest fats, which provide complex flavors, oily mouthfeel, and health benefits. The company produces fat cells with its differentiation technology. 

Company CEO, Kianti Figler, welcomes the setting up of the tasting approval process in the Netherlands, pegging it a “pivotal moment for the Dutch cultivated meat and seafood ecosystem.”

“We are dedicated to revolutionizing seafood alternatives through fish fat cultivation and this initiative empowers us to showcase our innovative approach,” he says. 

Mosa Meat — the company behind the world’s very first cultivated hamburger, which they developed in 2013 — also welcomes today’s development. 

It is among a small group of companies that have secured the majority of funding to develop cell-based products to date. Mosa Meat, alongside other cell-based meat manufacturers Upside Foods, Believer Meats, Wildtype and Aleph Farms account for 46.9% of all funds raised (FP 2016-2023 YTD).

Maarten Bosch, CEO of Mosa Meat, says the company will be applying soon to host the first legal tastings of its cultivated beef. Cell-based meat does not need animals and antibiotics in the production.

“The Netherlands continues to be a global leader in sustainable food innovation, even as others in Europe appear to be taking a step backward at the height of our climate and biodiversity crises.”

Regulation complications?
This references some pushback against cultivated meat and seafood in Italy where, last November, the government voted to ban cultured meat from being produced or sold in the country.

This kind of pushback could complicate the EU's regulatory environment surrounding cell-based food.

Other countries like the US, UK, Singapore and Israel continue to make strides toward regulating products, while EU Agriculture Ministers met to discuss the regulation of cultivated meat within the bloc earlier this week. 

Globally, there are more than 150 cultivated meat and seafood companies aiming to reduce the impact of the food industry on the planet and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the process. A study by independent research company CE Delft found that cultivated meat could reduce the meat industry’s environmental footprint by up to 92% for greenhouse gas emissions and 95% for land use. 

By Gaynor Selby