Cultivated meat

Cultivating meat is similar to growing plants from cuttings in a greenhouse, which provides warmth, fertile soil, water and nutrients. This new method of meat production enables the natural process of cell growth, but in a more efficient environment. 

In the summer of 2023, Israeli startup Aleph Farms applied to Swiss and UK regulators to sell their cultivated beef, and other companies have since submitted applications to sell cultivated meat in both countries. In July 2024, French startup Gourmey submitted the first-ever application to sell cultivated meat (in the form of foie gras) in the EU.  

Regulators are now undertaking thorough and evidence-based assessments of the safety and nutritional value of cultivated meat, and the approval processes are expected to take at least 18 months.

This means it is likely to be mid- 2025 at the earliest before cultivated meat may become available in Switzerland and the UK, and 2026 before it arrives in the EU.

Cultivated meat has already been approved for sale in Singapore and the United States, so the fact that it has passed rigorous approval processes in those countries suggests it can play a role in a safe and sustainable future for Europe’s food system. However, cultivated meat remains at an early stage in its development, and still requires significant investment from governments into research and infrastructure to support product development and scale-up before it can become widely available.

GFI Europe is working with the EU and national governments to ensure that the regulatory approval process for cultivated meat is robust, clear, and evidence-based.

The world’s first cultivated beef burger was unveiled in London in 2013. Since then, startups across Europe have made incredible progress in developing cultivated meat – but it will take government investment to truly transform meat production and maximise the societal benefits of cultivated meat. 

Public sector investment in open-access research can address foundational issues and support the growth of a whole sector, rather than just one company. Just like they fund research and development into green energy, governments interested in building a sustainable food system should fund open-access research into plant-based and cultivated meat, and other sustainable proteins. 

Research by CE Delft shows that by 2030, cultivated meat’s production costs could fall to just €5.73/£4.80 per kg. To achieve this, both the public and private sectors will need to invest significant sums into research and development to overcome existing challenges – and CE Delft’s research shows that enhancing taste, reducing prices, and delivering key infrastructure will be crucial. 

GFI Europe’s own market research suggests developing species-specific research toolkits, scaling and optimising cultivated meat inputs, and educating consumers will also be crucial.

Many terms have been used to describe meat grown from cells – from “slaughter-free meat” to “cultured meat” and “lab-grown meat”. “Lab-grown meat” is an especially misleading term. At scale, cultivated meat is produced in cultivators, in a facility similar to a brewery. All sorts of food, from beer to bread, begins in a food lab – but we don’t call cornflakes “lab-created cornflakes”. 

Cultivating meat can be thought of in the same way as cultivating plants in a greenhouse, where plant cuttings are given warmth, fertile soil, water and nutrients to help them to grow. A cultivator is what cultivated meat grows in. This is a reactor which facilitates the same biological process that happens inside an animal by providing warmth and the basic elements needed to build muscle: water, proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins and minerals.

To achieve the incredible potential of cultivated meat to help tackle the climate crisis, restore nature, protect public health and improve food security, consumers must understand and embrace it. In 2019, GFI began using the term “cultivated” following an extensive research project to develop a narrative and decide on a term that was neutral, understandable and appealing to consumers.

Research into the best terminology across key European languages published by GFI Europe in 2022 also found that ‘cultivated meat’ is also the most appropriate terminology to when writing in and translating into German, French, Italian and Spanish. For the project, media analyses, representative surveys and focus group discussions were carried out in each of the respective countries.