South Korea stimulates cultivated meat growth with regulation-free special zone

02 May 2024 --- South Korea is setting up a unique “regulation-free special zone” (RFSZ) where food tech firms can research and develop cultivated meat in a region with favorable regulatory exemptions to foster faster innovation and propel cellular agriculture-focused projects.

Ten cell-cultivated food companies will be housed in the RFSZ in Gyeongsangbuk-do, a province in South Korea, as part of an almost five-year project. 

The South Korean Ministry of SMEs and Start-ups — which introduced RSFZs in 2019 to promote innovation and flexibility in regulation-free landscapes outside of Seoul — has now officially inaugurated the KRW 19.9 billion (US$14 million) RFSZ after provincial governors applied for the rare designation.

The special exemption means the companies operating in the RFSZ can utilize biopsies and same-day slaughtered tissues to mass produce high-quality cell-cultivated foods. The supply of fresh cells is crucial to commercializing cell-cultivated foods, as is overcoming taste and texture challenges and boosting cell growth performance. 

One of the companies is Tissen Bio Farm, which will use its proprietary 3D biofabrication method for mass production and food additives for the taste and texture of the meat. The company has a 10 kg marbled cultivated beef prototype.

“So far, no cell-cultivated food product has been approved for sale in South Korea. In this context, it is significant for government bodies to provide legislative support to facilitate rapid testing and commercialization. With the previous regulatory environment, there were uncertainties around how to legitimately procure high-quality animal cells for food production. Within this new zone, the participating companies can attain high-quality cells much more easily,” Yeonjoo La, chief strategy officer of TissenBioFarm, tells Food Ingredients First.

“Meeting price parity, taste parity, and consumer awareness are the top three growth opportunities. Cultivated meat is expected to reach price parity with conventional meat within a few years.”

“The special zone in Gyeongsangbuk-do will facilitate the race to make these opportunities a success by not only exempting certain regulations but also by creating a cluster of companies across the value chain. The participating companies can easily collaborate and share the information necessary to produce affordable and sustainable new meat.”

Other firms include Lartbio, Danagreen, Seawith, Micro Digital, Mynu, LMK, SSBIO Pharm, K-Bio CMO Center and Gyeongbuk TP.

Companies operating in the RFSZ can utilize biopsies and same-day slaughtered tissues to mass produce high-quality cell-cultivated foods.The regulatory path 
South Korean companies have been moving swiftly to secure their own slice of the cultured meats sector through proprietary licenses for several years. In 2022, the country was outpacing other global markets in its rate of patent filings for cell-based meats, according to the analysis of the developing market of future protein sources at the time. 

A few months ago, the government began accepting submissions for cultivated meat approval after it released a framework to provide companies with guidelines. 

Applications must include safety verification data, like the raw material, the origin of the cell, the manufacturing method and allergen information.

Although the country is some way off greenlighting cultivated meat sales, opening an application process demonstrates how South Korea is making strides toward a tangible path to market. 

“A hotbed” of cell-based R&D
South Korea is a global leader in biotechnology, the underlying technology for cultivated meat. Many companies and research institutes working on cultivated meat have extensive R&D experiences and expertise in the fields of tissue engineering, cell biology and biomaterials.

“Thanks to this background, South Korea could become a leading nation in cultivated meat R&D,” La continues. 

“The South Korean government has been fostering the future food market actively because the country can only rely on state-of-the-art technology to boost economic growth without many natural resources, coupled with the increasing meat demand.”

“In February, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety revised the Enforcement Rule of the Food Sanitation Act that defines the Standards for Approval of Temporary Standards and Specification for Food. The revision opened a legislative door for cultivated meat by providing guidelines for approval.”

With South Korea’s background in biotechnology, the country could become a leading nation in cultivated meat R&D.Looking to the future 
It will be 2029 when the RFSZ designation will lapse, and the global cell-based industry will look very different. 

“Within this timeframe, we will be able to further develop the sensory experience of our cultivated meat. With the easier procurement of high-quality cells, we can conduct more robust experiments with different tastes and textures for each cut,” La says.

“In the meantime, the industry will enter a commercialization phase. With more concrete guidelines and more approval cases provided by each country’s government, the amount of investment and the speed of technology development will accelerate.”

“Many South Korean consumers will be willing to try cultivated meat once it hits the market with reasonable pricing and taste. According to a survey by the APAC Society for Cellular Agriculture, 90% of 1,110 respondents say they are willing to try the meat at least once. And 39% support cultivated meat being sold at supermarkets and restaurants,” he concludes.

Meanwhile, internationally, Israel and Singapore have given the green light for commercial cell-based meat for human consumption, while the United States Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration have granted approval to two companies, Upside Foods and GOOD Meat, to commercially distribute lab-grown chicken within the US.

By Gaynor Selby