Policy and Regulation

Effective policy and regulatory frameworks are needed to ensure a clear path to market for cellular agriculture products.

 
 

Background

Food regulation standards vary between countries; in Canada, these are governed by Health Canada and affiliated agencies. Aspects covered under their code include: requirements for novel food, processing aids, additives, food produced using gene technology, identifying potential allergens, product labelling and food safety. Recent learnings from the plant-based industry indicate that public awareness and transparency are important factors in driving legislative frameworks that support alternative protein. Simply put, people advocate for what they know about and understand. 

Research Focus Areas

Frameworks - Government policies and regulatory frameworks are needed to guide and protect consumers, existing food producers and the hospitality and food retail industries as well as the cellular agriculture industry itself. These policies and frameworks need to consider a range of factors including: food safety, transparency and consumer choice, the protection of human health, equitable commercial conditions and the protection of the environment, wildlife, livestock and research animals. Some research questions could include:

  • What kinds of new terminology (if any) will have to be developed in the regulation of cellular agriculture products?

  • How will regulation around the sale and marketing of cellular agriculture products advance or limit their success?

  • How might a possible change in regulation affect existing products, particularly in terms of labelling? For example: possible relabelling of conventional meat to something like ‘farmed meat’.

  • How have government regulatory models helped or hindered other emerging industries and what can we learn from those?

  • How might environmental and animal welfare regulations governing current food production be adjusted to include cellular agriculture production?

  • How might the existing regulations governing the use of gene editing/modification technologies be adapted to encompass cellular agriculture, if applicable?

  • How clear and efficient is the current regulatory process (from initial application through to ongoing inspections and compliance) for private companies? What improvements could be made, if any? Is there potential for strategic alliances with existing biotechnology companies that may be involved in or have knowledge of similar regulatory processes?

  • What can we learn (and apply) from the global regulatory processes and frameworks applied to the plant-based industry and/or the Singapore regulatory response to cultivated meat products?

Systems of accountability - It is vital that the cellular agriculture industry aligns to sustainability and ethical principles (for example, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals), therefore there must be systems put in place to enable this. Some research questions could include:

  • Is there a common understanding amongst existing cellular agriculture companies about which principles (around sustainability and ethics) are relevant to the field and what its intended benefits are?

  • How central are these principles and intended benefits to the business models and strategies of cellular agriculture companies and how committed are business leaders in abiding by/achieving these?

  • How might regulatory compliance ensure cellular agriculture companies stay aligned with such principles and intended benefits?

  • How has regulatory compliance to sustainable, ethical and equitable goals been effectively maintained in other industries?

  • What constitutes transparency in an emerging technology and how can this be regulated, if at all?

  • Are there lessons to be learned from how governments regulated early GM companies?

To advocate for public investment into R&D and develop the relevant regulatory frameworks, policy and regulatory professionals will be required within government and possibly legal and consultancy firms. Similarly, for-profit and not-for-profit parties may each require in-house expertise to advocate for public funds, navigate the initial process of regulatory approval and ongoing regulatory considerations as well as to maximise effective representation of the field. Majors useful for this include Political Science, Public Policy, and Law.