Start Reading: The Poor Pirates: Bangers and Cash

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It found that, depending on the production process, cultivated meat could reduce energy use between 7 per cent and 45 per cent, greenhouse gas emissions by 78 per cent to 96 per cent, water use by 82 per cent to 96 per cent and land use by 99 per cent. Companies are also developing other cultivated products, including steak, chicken, pork, lamb, duck, fish, shrimp, foie gras, kangaroo, mouse and horse – as well as cultivated dairy products including milk and cheese, though this paper will primarily focus on meat-related applications.

The changes included centralising the process to address slow approvals in some member states, creating a generic ingredients list, setting timelines (though these can still be paused for requests for more information), and introducing the simplified approval process for foods with a history of consumption outside the EU. If it is felt there is a risk that simply recognising overseas approvals results in companies opting to seek approval in other jurisdictions, thereby making the UK a rule-taker and limiting the ability for the UK to set global standards or achieve a first-mover advantage, that concern might be handled by seeking mutual recognition agreements with similar jurisdictions. The novel food regulations in the UK are outdated and lack the agility to keep pace with current innovation. This recognition could be either in a shortened application process or, ideally, by recognising the entire approval process.The UK has the opportunity, outside of the EU’s regulatory orbit, to reform food regulation to become more welcoming of cultivated meat. Finally, under a cover sits a DB9 Volante: “That’s my sons’ car; they’re more into the modern stuff than me. At Ivy Farm, we’re using technology developed at Oxford University to grow pork mince that’s a good source of protein, low in saturated fat and free from antibiotics.

Encouraging the uptake of plant-based alternatives looks reasonable on paper but doesn’t translate in reality. Holle highlights the definitional issues, such as the arbitrariness of including all new products from 15 May 1997, the lack of binding deadlines, or the protection of intellectual property in the process. But producing this much cultivated meat is very expensive without a large-scale production process, something that most cultivated meat start-ups lack. European meat industry organisations signed a similar open letter demanding that vegan imitations ‘stop hijacking’ the names of meat products (Copa Cogeca 2020); in 2017, the European Court of Justice banned terms such as ‘soy milk’ and ‘vegan cheese’ in respect to plant-based products (BBC News 2017). The precise environmental impact, particularly in respect to energy use, will not be known until the product is being produced at a commercial scale.In Britain, the expert recommendation is sent to ministers, who make the final decision instead of a member state committee.

However, there is yet to be a single cultivated meat application in the UK (or, for that matter, the EU) under the existing novel foods process. His 1926 Singer Nine, bought from an auction vendor after a bidder backed out on the purchase, is a car he enjoys, but is one his sons have no interest in. It is also notable that the government’s food strategy highlighted, under the headline of reducing barriers and bureaucracy, the need to review the novel food regulations to help innovators and investors (DEFRA 2022: 20). Globally, intensive farming is having a devastating impact on the environment, animal welfare and human health. The most promising alternative is cultivated meat (also referred to as cultured, lab-grown, cell-based, synthetic, animal-free or clean meat).It would also make little sense since, as discussed, these products use actual animal cells and will be an equivariant product. He was especially upset about the idea that they were going to be split up, because they’d been a pair in his ownership for about four decades. Firms with an innovative product apply to join the sandbox and, if successful, are then allocated a dedicated case manager who help support the development and testing of the product. The speed of regulatory approval is likely to have a large impact on the development of the cultivated meat in the UK. In addition to approval from the FSA, cultivated meat will also likely interface with other laws and regulations.