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Lab-grown foie gras and chicken are being tested by scientists to ensure they are safe for humans to eat, and could hit British restaurants and dinner tables in the next five years.
It is the closest any such “cultivated meat” product has yet come to approval for human consumption in the UK, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) said today as it published an update on “innovative” foods.
Other products like edible insects, 3D-printed chocolate, vegetables with extra vitamins and cheese that is “brewed” in a lab could also reach the public in roughly the next 15 years, the regulator said.
“The science enabling these innovations is exciting and our food system is changing at a rapid pace,” Dr Thomas Vincent, deputy director of innovation at the FSA, told Sky News.
Last year the agency was awarded £1.6m by the government to develop a new system to ensure these novel foods are safe to eat.
It followed complaints by the industry that Britain’s approval process was too slow to keep up with rapid innovation.
Dr Vincent added: “No new foods reach UK shelves unless they meet our high food standards, so the public can be assured that the food is safe and what it says it is.”
But the pioneers of these new products have allowed limited previews. Sky News signed a waiver to try pork meatballs grown in a laboratory, and found them authentically crispy and oozing fatty juices.
The industry has high hopes that the meats can feed a growing global population with a lower environmental impact, since they don’t need the land, food or water demanded by a herd of pigs or cattle.
So far it has made more progress with meat products like mince, that can be mixed with other ingredients, than it has with whole cuts like steaks or filets, that have structures that are harder to replicate.
But producers still need to overcome “consumer scepticism” and the challenge of scaling up, the FSA said.
Dr Sarah Najera Espinosa, of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical…
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