Food Safety

Background

Food safety refers to the safe handling and preparation of food in the best way possible to safeguard consumers from foodborne illnesses. Food regulation agencies maintain the standards for seafood, poultry, meat, dairy and egg products and will be required to develop safety frameworks for these foods produced through cellular agriculture. Currently 70% of the world’s antibiotics are allocated towards agriculture which can largely contribute to the increase in antibiotic resistance of livestock which can largely impact global health.

Research focus areas

• Safety frameworks - while aspects of primary production (i.e. farming and slaughter) will be excluded, either new frameworks will have to be developed or existing frameworks modified to account for cellular agriculture products. Cellular agriculture researchers will have to continually engage with food safety regulators to ensure production processes maintain approval.

• Existing regulation - cellular agriculture products have not yet been regulated in Canada and most countries around the world. A thorough understanding of the existing food regulation landscapes will be necessary to develop initial production processes. Outside research by third party organizations are necessary to maintain transparency and prevent tampering with information.

• Ongoing engagement - as the industry progresses, continued engagement with regulators will guide the development of both the production processes and the future guidelines and standards created to regulate them.