Cell-based food: its safety and its future role

Abstract

Cell-based food production involves culturing cells isolated from animals to develop products such as meat, poultry, aquatic products, dairy and eggs. Currently, many companies around the world are developing a wide range of cell-based foods using a variety of different production methods. In collaboration with the Ministry of Health, Israel, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) held a stakeholder meeting to come up with a technical reference document on the food safety aspects of cell-based food. Developers and producers of cell-based foods were invited to present the different cell-based production processes used for chicken nuggets, hamburgers, beef steak and sushi salmon, and to present their input materials, such as scaffolds, cell lines and growth media, that in certain cases are consumed along with the cell-based food product. All the participants stated that food safety is of foremost importance, and many presenters explained their cell-based food production processes with relevant food safety considerations in flowcharts, which have been included in this report. The meeting provided an opportunity for stakeholders from different parts of the world to learn from one another, and to share their experiences and challenges. As a result, the presentations delivered in the meeting provided an overview of the 2022 status of the topic of cell-based food development and presented the potential complexities of conducting food safety hazard identifications for cell-based food.