The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is holding a public meeting today to discuss foods produced using animal cell culture technology. Cell culture technologies that have been increasingly used to produce cells and tissues for human therapeutic use are now being used by the food sector to create innovative products that resemble conventional meat, poultry, and seafood. “The FDA has multiple authorities and programs that can support efforts to safely bring products with new ingredients to the market, according to FDA. “Food safety is at the core of the agency’s mission to protect and promote public health for our nation’s consumers.
As the use of laboratory-based cell culture technologies to replicate naturally made foods continues to develop, the FDA must first enforce its own existing regulations on the labeling of imitation products, according to Chris Galen, Sr. VP of Communications with the National Milk Producers Federation.
At an FDA hearing today focused on the regulation of cell-cultured products replicating meat, NMPF said that these rapidly evolving technologies impact dairy foods, as well. Just as scientists have discovered how to make “meat” imitations look and feel like the real thing, so, too, have they used genetically modified yeast to produce proteins that share a chemical identity with those found in milk. Listen to NMPF’s Chris Galen’s comments here:
