NEW TECH FOODS

Cell-based meat tastings could reportedly be legal in the Netherlands in weeks, according to RTL Nieuws, the country’s biggest commercial news service.

Although the first ever piece of cell-based meat was created in the Netherlands – the infamous burger developed by Mark Post in 2013 – it is currently still illegal for anyone to taste cell-based meat within the country.

The law on tasting is a problem for Dutch food tech companies #MosaMeat in Maastricht and #Meatable in Delft, who are required to carry out ‘tastings’ with computer software and AI, which may not accurately represent human tastes.

Krijn de Nood of Meatable previously told RTL Nieuws that he is 'longingly' eager to taste his home-grown sausages. He said at the time: "We think that what we make now is already tasty, but we want to make sure that what we make is good for the consumer”.

The report states that although a motion to allow tastings was passed in the House of Representatives in 2022, approval from the Cabinet is still required and is finally set to be granted with the “first tastings expected to be held in the autumn”.

“Finally, after five years, [celll-based meat tastings] seem to have arrived,” Dutch MP Tjeerd de Groot told RTL Nieuws. “Once upon a time, the Netherlands was a forerunner, then we let it go a bit and I hope that we can catch up.”

While full regulatory approval allowing cell-based meat to be sold commercially is still a distant prospect, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) recently held an event to review the latest data on cell-based meat, following the regulatory approval of cell-based chicken products by Upside Foods and Good Meat in the US. This could indicate that the authority is looking to adopt a more innovative approach to regulation.

Krijn de Nood of Meatable told RTL News that he is “longingly” eager to taste his product.

“We think that what we make now is already tasty, but we want to make sure that what we make is good for the consumer,” he said.

#theNetherlands