NEW TECH FOODS

Japan is set to host a major international symposium on cultivated food regulation next month, as the government nears the release of its first-ever guidelines for cell-based products.

The event – Japan Cell-Ag-Ready Dialogue 2025 – will take place on 13-14 November in Tokyo, gathering policymakers, scientists and industry leaders to debate how Japan should govern the emerging cultivated food sector.

Organised by the Japan Association for Cellular Agriculture (JACA) in partnership with The University of Tokyo’s Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology (RCAST) and government agencies, the two-day hybrid symposium comes at a pivotal moment for the country’s food innovation agenda.

The event will open with a keynote from a Consumer Affairs Agency official overseeing Japan’s cultivated food policy, followed by government-commissioned experts from the National Institute of Health Sciences and the Tokyo University of Agriculture discussing risk assessment frameworks for novel foods.

Regulatory specialists from Singapore, the US, Europe, Australia and China will join a panel to compare global approaches to safety evaluation and oversight of cultivated foods, a discussion expected to help inform Japan’s evolving Novel Food framework.

The second day will turn to the perspectives of Japanese stakeholders, including consumer groups, a former Nikkei journalist specialising in food safety and Wagyu producers collaborating with US-based Eat Just, which is said to be one of the first companies to commercialise cultivated chicken. The agenda also includes experts on misinformation and food risk communication.

International participants from the Good Food Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, Roslin Technologies, Safe Food Advocacy Europe, Hoxton Farms, BlueNalu and others are expected to contribute insights on technology, regulation and market readiness.