The Netherlands has just approved the tasting of lab-grown meat, a first for a European country.
Grown from animal cells, this meat has benefits for the environment and animal welfare.
The Netherlands, European pioneers in synthetic meat
For the time being, however, this is an area that is still far from being unanimously accepted. However, the Dutch government has just taken an important step, hailed by national start-ups specializing in the field such as Meatable and Mosa Meat. Until then, they were not allowed to have their products tasted.
Tasting of lab-grown meat, fish and seafood is now allowed in the country, “ great news for the netherlands says Krijn De Nood, co-founder and CEO of Meatable. The legislators have established a code of good practice in collaboration with these companies and with the representative of the sector, HollandBIO.
With this decision, the Netherlands confirms its ambition to become pioneers in the sector. The government has already set aside 60 million euros to create a ” cellular agriculture ecosystem and make the country a hub for this emerging technology.
A sector that still has many challenges to overcome
Eating lab-grown meat is already allowed in the United States and Singapore, where the first synthetic fish was created. In the Netherlands, it is the organization Cellular Agriculture Netherlands, set up by the government, which will be responsible for overseeing the code of practice for tasting approvals.
“ Mosa Meat will use these controlled tastings to gather valuable feedback on its products and to raise awareness among key stakeholders of the role cellular agriculture can play in helping Europe achieve its food sovereignty and sustainability goals. “, explains Maarten Bosch, CEO of Mosa Meat.
Synthetic meat requires less water and feed than traditional farming and eliminates all the suffering inflicted on livestock. However, further research and regulations are needed to resolve some technical challenges in its production. For example, it is an expensive process and one that will be difficult to adopt on a large scale.
Source : The Next Web
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