Paraguay's Stance on Lab-Grown Meat: Navigating Regulatory Challenges in a Global Context

By BKM-BERKEMEYER

Paraguay is moving forward with the ban on the production and marketing of laboratory-grown meat, with a bill currenly being discussed in Congress to prohibit the installation of laboratories for food products that are based on cell culture.

Cell-based food production, which is the field of growing animal agricultural products directly from cell cultures, has been explored as an alleged sustainable alternative to the conventional livestock agricultural system. As commercial cell-based food production continues to expand, the urgency increases to address one of the most important questions of consumers, the question of food safety.

Lab-grown meat, also known as cultured or cell-based meat, is recognized as a revolutionary innovation in the food industry. Lab-grown meat has garnered significant attention and investment because it offers a more sustainable alternative to traditional livestock farming. However, behind the promise of this cutting-edge technology lies a complex web of regulatory and compliance challenges that must be addressed to ensure its successful integration into the market.

Singapore was the first country in the world to greenlight the sale of lab-grown meat, but currently the industry struggles with supply and public acceptance issues in the country. In Singapore, chicken nuggets containing cell-based chicken have been granted regulatory approval and marketed since 2020 and a novel food regulatory framework was established by the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) in 2019.

Why Paraguay beguns discussion on the topic, the global regulation of lab-grown meat is still in its early stages, with much of the world in a "wait-and-see" approach.

There is no universally accepted regulatory framework for lab-grown meat. Some regions, like the European Union, are taking a more proactive approach by developing regional guidelines, while organizations like the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) are facilitating international discussions and harmonization efforts.

According to the FAO, hazard identification is only the first step of the formal risk assessment process. "In order to conduct a proper risk assessment for cell-based food, it is essential to collect a sufficient amount of scientific data/information that is required for exposure assessment and risk characterization. To this aim, food safety competent authorities may wish to collaborate with other food safety competent authorities in the region or trade partner countries to share the experience so that the data and insights required for safety assessment of cell-based food can be complemented. Also, active engagement of stakeholders is useful to maintain the transparency in their own food safety assessment data and results," a FAO report states.

The report adds that animal-based meat production has evolved over thousands of years to meet the demand for safe and affordable sources of protein and with a rapidly rising global population, it is important to "carefully assess" if cell-based foods would help to provide healthy, nutritious, and sustainable food for future generations, while at the same time reducing environmental impacts by, e.g. using significantly less land and water, emitting fewer greenhouse gases, reducing agriculture-related pollution, improving farm animal welfare and reducing the risk of zoonotic diseases that can spread from animals to humans.