South Korea says food safety and public health will be top priorities in upcoming new regulations on cultured meat

The local Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) has already published interim standards called “Standards for the Recognition of Temporary Standards and Specifications for Food, etc.” which covers food ingredients of cellular and microbial origin, including cultured meat and seafood.

These standards include clarification of the scope and preparation instructions for assembly of food ingredients produced using cell culture technology and are currently being finalized after receiving public comments.

“MFDS is working to ensure the safety and competitiveness of cell-based food by developing detailed regulatory support that can benefit the industry.” MFDS deputy director Kim Yu-mi said in an official statement.

“That said, it is always difficult for new foods to gain a foothold in the local South Korean market – in this type of situation, gaining consumer trust is the most important factor.

“We will therefore work with the industry to ensure that new foods developed are of excellent quality and assured safety before they are made available to the public.

“With all such innovative technologies in the food sector, the main priority is public health and safety and MFDS will ensure that these are well incorporated into local food safety policy.”

Kim made the statement after attending a production demonstration at local cell-cultured meat company Seawith and after participating in a forum discussing the main challenges of the cultured meat industry.

Seawith aims to develop the country’s first cultivated steak and bases its technology on raw materials from marine sources.

“We have developed a seaweed-based scaffold that will store bovine cells that will become a steak, which will also enable deeper penetration of nutrients into tissue culture,” he added. Seawith CTO Heejae Lee told us.

“This is in addition to our own culture media made from microalgae, which are much cheaper than regular media due to the abundance of microalgae, and also have the added benefit of natural algae nutrients.

“We aim to produce 1 kg of meat for less than $3 per kg by 2030.”

The company has partnered with Singaporean commercial cultured meat company Esco Aster to accelerate its path to commercialization, building on Singapore’s position as the first country in the world to approve cultured meat as a novel food – but has made no secret of its desire to produce and grow locally. what upcoming regulations will enable.

Cost concerns

One of the main differences between the proposed South Korean framework and Singapore’s existing framework is that the former will involve quite high monetary costs.

In the section of the application form relating specifically to cultivated foods, the cost of the application was listed at KRW 45 million ($33.1 million) – a large sum for an application alone, considering that many companies in this industry are generally start-ups with limited financing.

The total application processing time is up to 270 days.

We will be discussing protein trends in detail as a key topic at our upcoming Growth Asia Summit 2024, taking place in Singapore this July – click here to find out how you can join us!