Lab-grown food could be sold in UK in two years | Global News Avenue

Meat, dairy and sugar grown in the lab can be sold in the UK, the first time in two years has been consumed in humans earlier than expected.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) is studying how it can speed up the approval process for lab-growing food.

Such products are grown from cells in small chemical plants.

British companies have led the field with a scientific attitude, but feel that current regulations have stopped them.

Dog food made from meat grown in factory buckets Sales started in the UK for the first time last month.

In 2020, Singapore became the first country to authorize the sale of cell cultured meat for human consumption, followed by the United States and Israel three years later last year.

However, Alabama and Florida, Italy and the United States, have imposed bans.

FSA is developing new regulations through collaboration with experts from high-tech food companies and academic researchers.

It said it aims to complete a complete safety assessment of both laboratory-grown foods over the first two years.

But critics say that having companies involved in setting new rules represents a conflict of interest.

The initiative is in response to British companies’ concerns that they have lost competition overseas, where the approval process takes half the time.

Professor Robin May, chief scientist at the FSA, told the BBC News there is no compromise on consumer safety.

“We are working closely with the companies and academic groups involved to design regulatory structures that are beneficial to them, but at all costs, ensuring that these products are safe are still high,” he said.

But critics like Pat Thomas, director of the campaign organization outside General Motors, don’t believe in this approach.

“Companies involved in helping the FSA develop these regulations are most likely to benefit from deregulation, and if this is another type of food, we would be angry about it.”

Lord Vallance, Minister of Science, described the process as “deregulation”.

“It’s not about deregulation, it’s about pro-innovating regulations,” he told BBC News.

“This is an important difference because we try to align regulations with the needs of innovation and reduce some bureaucracy and duplication.”

Laboratory-grown food grows from tiny cells into plant or animal tissue. This may sometimes involve gene editing to adjust the properties of food. The claimant benefit is that they are more likely to be healthier to the environment.

Food companies that the government is keen on lab growth are thriving because it hopes they can create new jobs and economic growth.

The UK is good at science, but the current approval process is much slower than other countries. Singapore, the United States and Israel have especially faster procedures.

Oxford’s Ivy Farm Technology is ready to go with a laboratory-grown steak made from cells made from wagyu and Aberdeen Angus Cows.

The company applied for approval to sell its steak to restaurants early last year. Ivy Farm CEO Dr. Harsh Amin explained that two years is a long time.

“If we can cut it down to less than a year while maintaining the highest food safety standards in the UK, that will help startup companies like us thrive.”

Dr. Alicia Graham has a similar story. Working at the Bezos Centre at Imperial College in western London, she found a way to grow sugar alternatives. It involves introducing genes found in berries into yeast. This process allows her to produce a large amount of crystals that make it taste sweet.

It doesn’t make you fat, she says, so potential sweeteners and healthy alternatives are also carbonated drinks.

In this case, I can taste it. It’s incredibly sweet, slightly sour and fruity, reminds me of the lemon fruit. But Dr. Graham’s company Madesweetly does not allow it to be sold until it is approved.

“The path to gaining recognition is not straightforward,” she told me.

“They are all new technologies, and for regulators it’s not easy to keep up. But it means we don’t have a specific path to product approval, and that’s what we want.”

The FSA said it will complete a comprehensive safety assessment of both lab-grown foods over the next two years and begin using faster and better systems for approval of applications for new lab-grown foods.

Professor Mei of FSA said the purpose of working with experts in relevant companies and scholars is to make science correct.

“It can be very complex and it is crucial that we understand science to ensure food is safe before authorization.”

But Ms Thomas said these high-tech foods may not be as friendly as environmentally friendly foods because they require the energy to make them, and in some cases their health benefits are going beyond.

“Labor-grown food is ultimately super processed food, and we are in an era where we are trying to get people to eat less super processed food because of their health effects,” he said.

“It is worth mentioning that these superprocessed foods have never been performed in human diets before.”