This was the conclusion reached by an expert panel comprising South Korea Gyeongbuk Techno Park Head of Medical Convergence Fibre Centre Eunmi Kim, sustainability consultancy Dawn Horizon Founder and CEO Dewi Suratty, and Israel Ministry of Health Head of Food Risk Management Ziva Hamama.
The panel was moderated by Japan Association for Cellular Agriculture President Megumi Avigail Yoshitomi.
According to Hamama, Israel has one of the world’s most advanced cultivated meat sectors and there is no mandate on firms to make their products kosher, but most of them do so anyway.
“There is no requirement for any foods to be kosher to be on the market in Israel, but given the fact that a large percentage of the population does follow a kosher diet, many cultivated food firms have decided to go ahead and seek this certification to cater to their demands,” she told the floor at the recent Asia Pacific Agri-Food Innovation Summit in Singapore.
“Just like with any other food product, all kosher certifications are assessed on a case-by-case basis for cultivated meat products with a focus on the product itself and its processing.
“An example of kosher cultivated meat is Supermeat’s cultivated chicken which has successfully gotten its kosher certification.
“Certifications in this sector are obtained due to both industry and government realisation of the need to think about novel foods in a novel way, and the fact that this certification does in fact increase consumer acceptance.”
Over in Singapore, the main intersection between religion and cultivated meat so far has been in terms of halal certification for this sector, and there has in fact already been an in-depth analysis conducted into this by the local authorities.
“The Singapore Food Agency (SFA) and Majlis Ugama Islam Singapore (MUIS, Islamic Religious Council of Singapore) has already looked into this issue of religious permissibility for cultivated meat via a thorough review,” Suratty said.
“Earlier this year a fatwa or religious ruling has already been issued to decree that cultivated meat can be considered as halal as long as it fulfils certain conditions.
“These conditions are: 1) The cell from which the product is made must be from a halal animal; 2) The entire process of production must be halal; and 3) The end product must be non-toxic and safe for human consumption.
“In order for a novel sector to succeed in any ecosystem or society, it is key to gain the acceptance of the local consumers, and in this case we refer to Muslim consumers, bearing in mind that this makes up some 25% of the world population.”
Challenges still need to be addressed
South Korea is also developing its own set of novel food regulations, having previously highlighted that food safety and public health are going to be major areas of consideration.
In addition to this, the government is also working to establish specialised scientific ecosystems such as the Gyeongbuk Technopark which are hoped to increase the efficiency and frequency of public private partnerships in the sector.
“The cultivated meat sector and its relevant regulations and implementation is being handled by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS), and there are many areas of consideration that actually span across multiple ministries,” Kim said.
“It is often a pain point for start-ups to access the support they need, and we believe that technoparks such as this provide an important ecosystem within which firms can thrive and find the right partnerships to grow.”
However, from a government perspective even in Israel there still remain several very realistic challenges that have yet to be resolved.
“The first major challenge we face is the difference in pace between regulators and the food tech industry – the latter is comprised mostly of startups that make rapid advancements in science, whereas the former has to face many constraints that can be time-consuming,” Hamama said.
“Another one is information-sharing, as this is where issues such as confidentiality and intellectual property come into play, and really requires a clear framework to handle moving forward.
“The last one is in terms of labelling and terminology, as there are so many different stakeholders involved and we already know that the most clear and accurate terminology is unlikely to be aligned with what is best for consumer trust and market acceptance – so these are challenges that we still need to resolve moving forward.”