Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) is undertaking a second round of public consultation on the case of cell-cultured quail, after a comprehensive scientific assessment found no toxicological, nutritional safety or food allergenicity concerns.
Cultivated meat company, Vow Group, first applied to amend the food standards code in February 2023, stating its cultured quail was safe for human consumption. It is the first cell-cultured food produced in Australia and assessed by FSANZ.
The company started serving its ‘Quailia’ meat in Singapore under consumer brand, Forged, in April – the third company in the world to gain approval to sell cultured meat.
The application seeks approval to use cultured quail cells in combination with other ingredients to make products such as logs, rolls and patties. This would involve an amendment to the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code to permit using the product as a food.
FSANZ undertook its first call for submissions on its risk assessment in December 2023. In total, 40 submissions were received, with key issues raised including the sourcing and safety of the cell line, production inputs such as media and growth factors, microbiological safety of the harvested cells and overall food safety requirements.
After further consideration of the evidence and all submissions received, the organisation has modified the approach initially proposed.
Rather than approving cultured quail cells as a novel food, FSANZ is proposing a standards-based approach which will allow the sale of Vow’s product and any cell-cultured food that passes a pre-market assessment by FSANZ.
FSANZ has prepared two draft standards, a new schedule and various consequential variations which will apply to all future cell-cultured foods. This new standards-based approach will provide a clearer regulatory framework to support innovation.
The draft standards are Standard 1.5.4 – Cell-cultured foods and Standard 3.4.1 – Food safety requirements for processing of cell-cultured food. The draft schedule is Schedule 25A – Permitted cell cultured foods.
As part of its assessment, the University of Adelaide conducted a review for FSANZ to establish consumers' understanding of cell-cultured meats. The organisation recommended labelling these foods as either ‘cell-cultured’ or ‘cell-cultivated’ would help consumers make informed choices.
- Standard 1.5.4 would provide the permissions and set general requirements for cell-cultured foods, including labelling requirements. These would require use of the statement ‘cell-cultured’ or ‘cell-cultivated’ for food identification purposes.
- Standard 3.4.1 would establish general production and processing requirements for cell-cultured foods produced in Australia. These would relate to inputs, premises and equipment, processing protocols, monitoring, and verification, and would cover the sourcing of cells from a donor animal through to the production of the final food for sale.
- Permitted cell-cultured foods must be listed in Schedule 25A and comply with any conditions listed in that Schedule. Schedule 25A would list the applicant’s cell-cultured quail as a permitted cell-cultured food and set specific conditions for its sale and labelling.
Submissions on FSANZ final assessment and the proposed measures close on 24 December, and can be made online.
