With the future of agriculture in the EU at a crossroads, the possibility of integrating the production of cultivated meat in rural economies and offering an attractive protein alternative to consumers, was discussed at a webinar which was live-streamed from the European Parliament last week.
The webinar, organized and moderated by The Brussels Times together with GAIA, Belgium's leading animal rights organisation, included panels of MEPs, representatives of cell based meat and animal welfare organisations, and was followed by over 200,000 viewers who asked questions on-line.
In recent years, cultivated meat or the production of animal products directly from cells rather than whole animals (cellular agriculture), has emerged as a promising solution but there is still some way to go. The technology needs to be scaled up with farmers as active participants in the production process. It still needs to be approved in the EU as novel and safe food.
Asked to define the concept, Mark Post, Chief Scientific Officer of Mosa Meat, a Dutch startup which unveiled the first cultivated beef burger already in 2013, explained that cellular agriculture means growing real food directly from cells instead of raising and slaughtering animals.
“All our food consists of cells,” he said. “We’re simply allowing those cells to grow outside the animal rather than inside it.” Using a small tissue sample, cells are placed in a nutrient-rich bioreactor where they multiply into muscle or fat. This might not sound attractive to consumers, but we are eating cells all the time, he added. Cultivating cells, requires much fewer animals. The same approach can also use bacteria, fungi or yeast through fermentation to create proteins and other food ingredients.
The same principle applies also to seafood, said Annelies Bogaerts, CEO of Fishway. Her team isolates stem cells from fish and grows them in bioreactors, producing nutritious ingredients without exposure to microplastics or heavy metals. “It’s like growing fish. You feed the cells, let them grow, and harvest them.”
The benefits of cultivated meat and fish are both environmental and ethical. Ina Paitjan, Legal Researcher at GAIA, referred to a recent survey that showed that an overwhelming majority of Belgians, especially among young people, care deeply about animal welfare and believe that cultivated protein could play an important role in the future of food supply.
Huge potential market
In Belgium, the number of vegetarians and vegans is estimated to ca 8% of the population and is expected to double. The target group for cultivated meat extends beyond this group and includes those who still want to eat meat and feel the taste of meat but not at the expense of climate change and animal welfare.
“I want to make it clear that cultivated meat doesn’t replace traditional agriculture,” Paitjan cautioned. “It complements, diversifies and adapts our current food system.” The system is changing and cultivated meat offers an opportunity for innovation to reduce pressure on natural resources and alleviate animal suffering in intensive factory farming.
What is the market potential of cultivated meat? As reported by The Brussels Times last year, the latest projections suggested that cultivated meat could secure 10% of the meat market by 2030 and up to 35% by 2040. The global meat market has been estimated to 1.4 trillion US dollars.
“It’s about a more compassionate way of producing meat without harming animals,” said MEP Tilly Metz (Greens/EFA). Furthermore, ordinary meat production does not look at the costs of unintended side effects (externalities) on land use and water and air pollution. She noted that 77% of European farmland is currently used for meat and dairy production but delivers only 18% of total calories.
Niels Fuglsang, a Danish Social Democrat MEP, underlined that the debate should focus on fairness rather than telling people what to eat. The subsidies in EU common agricultural policy (CAP) favour meat production, with four out of every five euros going to livestock farming. Part of it pays for growing animal feed.
“We already shape people’s diets through subsidies,” he said, arguing that Europe should redirect the support toward sustainable and innovative alternatives, such as plant-based food. This does not imply that all consumers in Europe will become vegetarians or vegans in the near future. He is fascinated by cultivated meat but has not yet tasted a cellular meat burger because it cannot be bought in the EU.
He is critical against Denmark, his home country, which currently is chairing the rotating EU Presidency. A country with 6 million inhabitants is pushing its farmers to produce 25 million pigs per year for the whole world. “We do it by breeding pigs in the most efficient but cruel way, locking them in tiny cages, where many of them are dying. Danish sows give birth to 20 piglets while wild boar sows have only 5 – 7 piglets.”
The scaling up of cellular agriculture remains a challenge although consumer acceptance is growing and people are eating more plant-based food, Mark Post from Mosa Meat remarked. The start-up applied first for authorization in Singapore where it was easier.
Philip Herd, The Brussels Times Editor-in-Chief, surrounded by some of the panelists in the webinar (see article)
Regulatory approval key
“In Europe we are quite late although the technology originally started here. Scaling up in the EU requires regulatory approval. Currently only two products have been submitted to the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) for approval. The technology itself is not easy to scale up but it’s doable if funding and infrastructure are provided. The Commission could help by supporting shared facilities.”
Ruud Zanders, a Dutch poultry farmer and co-founder of Respect Farms, said that he sees cultivated meat not as a threat but as a new business model. “If we can produce the same products without killing animals — and it’s better for the environment and biodiversity — why not?” he said. “I can still be a poultry farmer, just producing meat in a different way.”
His optimism was shared by Ira van Eelen, co-founder of KindEarth and chair of CellAg Netherlands, whose late father was one of the pioneers of the field. Farmers should be placed at the centre of the transformation. “Why wouldn’t we involve the people who have always produced our food? Farmers already handle complex biological processes. They can adapt, if we give them the chance.”
In fact, both are involved in the Respect Farms project which was recently launched by a consortium of start-ups with EU co-funding from EIT Food. The project has started designing and building the world’s first cultivated meat farm, paving the way for commercialisation. If everything goes according to plan, water consumption will be reduced by 78%, land use by 95% and societal cost by 56%
“Cultivated meat is good news for farmers and animals alike,” summarized Reineke Hameleers, CEO of the Eurogroup for Animals. The technology could free farmers from economic pressures, improve animal welfare, and make Europe more resilient to global shocks such as climate change and feed shortages.
Still, barriers remain. The panelists agreed that regulatory approval and public funding are crucial for scaling production in Europe. While the United States and Singapore have already authorized cultivated meat for sale, EU companies are still waiting for EFSA clearance. “If we delay too long,” warned Ira van Eelen, “we’ll end up importing these products from elsewhere instead of leading the way.”
Can cultivated meat be made halal and kosher? one in the audience asked. The reply is affirmative. Cultivated meat is non-slaughtered meat and could therefore also become an acceptable alternative for Jews and Muslims whose ritual slaughter without stunning has been forbidden in Flanders and Wallonia. If harm reduction is the guide, cultivated meat might even become an alternative for Hindus.
The webinar closed on a note of cautious optimism. The participants agreed that cellular agriculture alone will not solve Europe’s food challenges but it could be a vital part of a broader transition. “We can’t keep doing things the same way and expect different results. This is about the future of farming, and the future is already here.”
Despite broad support across political party lines in the European Parliament, advocates for reforming EU’s agricultural policy continue to face an uphill battle. A majority in the Parliament voted recently for the mandate for talks with Member States about new rules “aimed at restoring balanced power relations in the agri-food supply chain”, including a ‘veggie burger ban’.
MEPs decided to introduce a new definition of meat as “edible parts of animals” and specify that names such as steak, escalope, sausage or burger must be reserved exclusively for products containing meat and “must exclude cell-cultured products”.
“By endorsing a ban on terms like ‘burger’ or ‘sausage’ for plant-based foods, the European Parliament has sided with protecting the status quo over progress, Olga Kikou, Director of Animal Advocay & Food Transition commented. “This symbolic move penalises farmers cultivating Europe’s protein crops, such as peas, soy, fava beans, and undermines consumers’ right to choose sustainable options.”
European Commission’s response
Both the Commission and EFSA have responded to questions from The Brussels Times about the regulatory process.
EFSA confirmed that it received the first cell culture-derived food product for regulatory approval in the EU in September 2024, concerning duck cells from cell culture as a novel food. As regards launching a scientific study on cultivated meat for novel food, it replied that the agency individually assesses the safety of each application on a case-by-case basis.
Before any novel food can be put on the market, it is subject to a scientific risk assessment by EFSA, “which is one of the strictest approaches in the world”. A European Commission spokesperson confirmed that the first application for cultured meat in the EU has been considered valid by the Commission.
“The application is now going through this stringent scientific risk assessment by EFSA. The agency has a legal deadline of up to 9 months to complete the risk assessment. After receiving the results of assessment, the Commission will initiate consultations with the Member States in view of adopting a decision as prescribed in the legal framework.”
The Commission also confirmed that a second application for cultured meat has been received. Its validity is being checked by the Commission and is not yet confirmed as further information has been requested from the applicant.
"Only once EFSA delivers its opinion can the next phase of the risk management start. The duration of the procedure varies depending on the nature, novelty, specific attributes of the novel food, the completeness of the application, the complexity of the file as well as the necessary discussion with Member States. The Commission’s priority in this regard is ensuring that the food is safe.”
The Commission referred to a report published in 2023 by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN (FAO) on the food safety aspects of cell-based food.
The report includes a literature synthesis of relevant terminology issues, principles of cell-based food production processes and the global landscape of regulatory frameworks for cell-based food production. Case studies from Israel, Qatar and Singapore have been included to highlight different scopes, structures and contexts surrounding their regulatory frameworks for cell-based food.
Update: The article has been updated to include responses from the European Commission and EFSA.
