EFSA Seeks Expertise to Speed Cultivated Meat Approvals

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) says it must develop internal specialist knowledge to assess cultivated meat and precision fermentation efficiently. The agency cites limited open-access information on these rapidly developing technologies as a key reason.

EFSA has named cultivated meat and precision fermentation among the fields where it needs its own expertise. This push aims to address significant bottlenecks in the novel food authorisation process.

Paper outlines priority areas for sustainable innovation

The proposal appears in EFSA's recent paper on scientific excellence and regulatory readiness. The document, published to inform the agency’s next strategy, lists both technologies as priority scientific areas for sustainable food and feed innovation.

Need for faster, fit-for-purpose assessments

EFSA stresses that its risk assessments need to become faster and fit-for-purpose to keep pace with innovation. The current process is not meeting the speed of development in the novel foods sector.

Current novel food authorisation process and delays

EFSA must assess the safety and nutritional value of any novel food before it can be sold in the EU. Applicants build their safety dossiers around updated EFSA guidance, which sets out high-level scientific requirements.

However, this guidance does not list every element risk assessors need. According to the Good Food Institute Europe (GFI Europe), uncertainty over required data has led to lengthy authorisation delays. Germany’s first national action plan for cellular agriculture, published last month, cited studies showing EU novel food authorisation takes more than three years on average. The regulation itself sets out a formal timeline of 17 months.

Regulatory sandboxes proposed as solution

GFI Europe welcomed the EFSA paper. Policy manager Lea Seyfarth said it was positive to see the agency acknowledge the need to keep pace with innovation and develop a more proactive system that avoids unnecessary delays. The organisation argues the paper strengthens the case for admitting novel foods to regulatory sandboxes.

These sandboxes are controlled, time-limited environments where regulators can study new production processes. GFI Europe says they are especially useful for alternative proteins that food safety authorities may be assessing for the first time.

The European Commission excluded novel foods from the sandbox scheme in its initial proposal for the Biotech Act in December 2025. GFI Europe described that exclusion as a missed opportunity. The final Biotech Act text is still being negotiated by the European Parliament and the Council of the EU.

Members of the European Parliament on the Committee on the Environment, Climate and Food Safety have said the blanket exclusion should be removed. Germany and the Netherlands have also called for a rethink of the novel food exclusion from the sandbox scheme.