Wednesday May 31, 2023

As Japan commits to cultivated meat, will Europe be left behind?

Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has announced plans to develop a cultivated meat industry.

“We will develop an environment to create a new market, such as efforts to ensure safety and development of labelling rules, and foster a food tech business originating in Japan,” ​he said, as reported by the Japan Economic Newspaper.

In Japan, no clear definition of cultured meat as food currently exists, nor have safety standards for raw materials and manufacturing processes been established. But the Government has shown willingness to advance this process.

“Food tech, including cellular foods, is an important technology from the perspective of

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What does FDA’s greenlight of cultivated meat mean for Europe? ‘There are worldwide implications’

In what has been described an ‘historic milestone’, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has judged a cultivated meat product – UPSIDE Foods’ cell-based chicken – to be as safe as its animal-based counterpart.

Having received the FDA’s ‘no questions letter’, UPSIDE Foods now edges closer to commercialisation, which, if achieved, would make the US the second country globally to see cultivated meat enter the market, following on from Singapore’s 2020 regulatory approval​.

Over in Europe, the situation is somewhat different. As of September 2022, FoodNavigator understands that not one company had even submitted a novel food dossier on

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International Meatless Day: Mock meat dishes and other vegetarian food trending up

International Meatless Day is celebrated on November 25. It is also known as International Vegetarian Day.

The special day was proposed on 25 November 1986, the birthday of Sadhu Vaswani, the educationist who initiated a mission to adopt vegetarian living.

It is estimated there are 50 to 68 million vegetarians in China, and the number is growing every year. In Shanghai alone, there are 298 registered vegetarian restaurants on the Dianping.com, a restaurant review app.

There is a long history of vegetarian diets in China. Prior to the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC) when meat sources were scarce, the majority of

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Europe’s Meat Habit and the Global Food Crisis by Sarah Lake & Nico Muzi

European policymakers can fight both rising food costs and climate change by reducing incentives for industrial meat production. Even a 13% cut in the EU’s meat production would be enough to offset the loss of Ukrainian grain exports, reduce food insecurity in developing countries, and ease food price increases.

DENVER/BRUSSELS – European countries are experiencing their worst cost-of-living crisis in decades, owing to surging energy and food costs. COVID-19, the war in Ukraine, and climate change have compounded the increase in commodity prices, leading to food shortages and rapidly rising food insecurity in the developing world. But there is good

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Black Sea deal suspension will drive up grain and meat prices in Asia-Pacific

Russia's exit from grain deal could raise food prices: U.N.

Asia-Pacific could face higher prices of grains and meat after Russia suspended a U.N.-brokered deal that had allowed safe grain shipments out of the Black Sea.

Over the weekend, the Russian foreign ministry said it “can no longer guarantee the safety of civilian dry cargo ships participating in the Black Sea Grain Initiative and will suspend its implementation from today for an indefinite period.” This followed an Ukrainian attack on its fleet in Sevastopol.

Meat production and consumption are key in Asia and for many Asian countries, grains such as wheat, corn, and soybeans are needed for animal feed to

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Plant-based and lab-grown meat alternatives are being combined to create “hybrid” meat

Part of Back to the Future, from The Highlight, Vox’s home for ambitious stories that explain our world.

This much is true: Production and consumption of meat is an environmental and ethical catastrophe. And we keep eating more of it, with enormous consequences.

There’s climate change and the environment: Almost 15 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions can be traced back to livestock, while in the US alone, air pollution from meat production is linked to 12,700 premature deaths each year. Or lifesaving drugs: Three-quarters of antibiotics used globally are fed to farmed animals, and partially as a

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