A DUP MP has hit out after a food watchdog suggested that lab-grown meat could be on the menu in the UK within two years.
Last week, the The Food Standards Agency (FSA) said it was committed to completing the full safety assessment of two cell-cultivated products (CCPs) within the next two years.
The watchdog has launched a “pioneering” regulatory programme for cultivated meats to make sure they are safe for consumers before they are sold, funded by the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology’s Engineering Biology Sandbox Fund.
CCPs are new food products made without traditional farming methods such as rearing livestock or growing plants and grains.
Instead, cells from plants or animals are grown in a controlled environment to make the product.
The DUP’s Westminster Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs spokesperson, Carla Lockhart MP said: “This is a hugely concerning revelation and another blow to the generations of farmers who work tirelessly on a daily basis, 365-days a year, to produce nutritious, wholesome food to feed the nation.”
The Upper Bann MP added: “Paving the way for lab-grown, cultivated or synthetic meat, sugar and dairy products is an ill-informed utopia.
“The Food Standards Agency has received a £1.6m grant to progress an assessment process for the novel foods. By its own admission the FSA exists so that people can trust the food they buy and eat is safe, healthier and more sustainable.
“Hailing from a farming background I have grown up eating farm-fresh, seasonal produce. I find it very hard to believe that meats such as beef and chicken can been replicated in a laboratory. Surely this practice poses a number of questions on ethics, economics, transparency, sustainability and public health?
“I am an advocate for innovation, but in my opinion, meat generated in a lab cannot compete with that produced from naturally reared, grass-fed and fully traceable farm livestock.
“Farmers adhere to strict animal health and welfare regulations and their farming practices are monitored and approved by bodies such as Red Tractor and the Farm Quality Assurance Scheme.”
However, cultivated meat requires less land and water, and side-steps the ethical concerns associated with animal welfare.
The UK has already been identified as an attractive market for lab grown meat, thanks to its large number of vegans, vegetarians and flexitarians; a more open attitude towards new foods compared with many other European countries; and a robust financial sector that could support potential startups.
The FSA is now working on creating the assessment criteria to efficiently approve these products, with input from academic experts and the companies involved. Applications that have already been submitted to the FSA are being analysed.
There are currently no CCPs approved for human consumption in the UK, although cultivated meat is already making its way into the market — but not yet for people.
One cultivated chicken has been approved for use in pet foods by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA), allowing pets to enjoy lab-grown meat before humans can.
But the MP added: “Lab-grown meat is deemed more ethical and climate friendly. The first lab-grown burger was unveiled in London in 2013, and in 2021 Singapore was the first country to approve cultured meat for human consumption. Singapore imports 90% of its food and drink, and lab-grown meat experiments gained momentum as the country sought to increase self-sufficiency and food security.
“However, almost four years on and lab-grown meat isn’t a commercial reality in Singapore. The production, sale and import of cultivated meat is banned in Italy.
“It is approved in the USA, but the anti-lab-grown meat rhetoric is growing louder, with several states such as Alabama, Florida and Mississippi having already introduced a ban, even though the product isn’t available on shop shelves.
“Lab-grown or cultured meat is a form of cellular agriculture. The process involves a small biopsy of animal origin, which is then placed in a specially formulated growth medium and kept at body temperature.”