Lab-grown meat? Spoke 2 - NODES and UPO participate in European Commission talks in Brussels.

The case of lab-grown "meat" (already approved and marketed outside Europe-for example, chicken meat in Singapore) is a hotly debated case in Italy, with strong opposition.

Prof. Arlorio of the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences - UPO and Spoke 2 Research Module Leader participated in the Thematic Table on Ingredients Obtained by "Precision Fermentation" as part of the 27th EFSA Colloquium scheduled on May 11-12 at the European Commission in Brussels.

The EFSA Colloquia bring together by invitation international experts in the field of food safety, both in academia and industry, to set up working tables that enable the development of reference documents and guidelines that are used by EFSA or can be forwarded to the Commission, focusing on "hot" topics, just as in the case of this "new" type of food.

"Considering the needs to address the new needs of mankind in terms of food sustainability, means considering the production and use of "novel foods" (novel foods, according to Regulation (EU) 2015/2283), always carefully evaluating the Risk Assessment process." began Prof. Arlorio.

"The very definition of precision fermentations, to date without a regulatory cap," Arlorio continues, "is a globally accessed debate. For EFSA, precision fermentations would be ascribable to the use of genetically modified microorganisms; therefore, it becomes critical to define whether (and when) genetic material may remain in the finished product. These issues-including the risk analysis process-have long been widely considered in the pharmaceutical industry, where fermentations using genetically modified microorganisms are widely used for drug production. Certainly, "pharma" sector guidelines will be considered in the review of risk assessment processes typical of the food sector."

Increasingly, therefore, EMA (the European Medicines Safety Authority) and EFSA (the European Food Safety Authority) are finding points of contact in relation to these sensitive issues.

For more information, you can consult the material published by EFSA.