Cell cultured meat is on the menu in Australia!

Cell cultured meat is now on the menu in Australia! Cell-cultured meat refers to products made by growing animal cells in a controlled environment, rather than through traditional farming and processing. This process allows for the production of foods such as meat and seafood by cultivating cells directly, resulting in products that are intended to be comparable to their conventional counterparts.

On 18 June 2025, changes to the Australian New Zealand Food Standards Code (the Code) were gazetted to permit the use of cell-cultured quail as a food.

The change follows an application from Vow Group Pty Ltd (Vow), a biotechnology company based in Sydney, seeking approval to use cultured quail cells as a novel food combined with other ingredients to make products in the form of logs, rolls and patties. Australia is now the fourth country in the world to approve cell cultured meat.

The gazetted changes did more than approve this innovative food: the Code was also amended to lay out a clearer path for cell-cultured foods created from growing animal and plant cells in a controlled environment moving forward.

The amendments include:

• a new standard 1.5.4, which prohibits selling cell-cultured foods unless FSANZ expressly approves them and introduces labelling requirements for cell-cultured foods;
• a new schedule 25A, listing approved cell-cultured foods and conditions of their sale; and
• a new standard 3.4.1, introducing specific food safety requirements for cell-culturing food businesses and cell line suppliers (where those cell lines are intended to be used in the production of a food).

This AgriThinking alert outlines the approval process for cell-cultured food, the new labelling requirements, and other trends in food regulation.

What is the process for approval of cell-cultured food?

The ‘novel food’ pathway

Vow initially applied to Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) for approval under the novel food process.

Vow could not just commence selling cell-cultured quail because the Code prohibits retail sale of a ‘novel food’ (or a food which has a novel food as an ingredient) unless that novel food is listed in schedule 25 of the Code and conditions in schedule 25 are complied with. Standard 1.5.1 of the Code defines novel foods (not surprisingly!) by reference to non-traditional foods that do not have a history of human consumption in Australia or New Zealand.

The new pathway for cell-cultured foods

Instead of giving Vow approval via the novel foods route, FSANZ created a new pathway and introduced new standards specifically regulating cell-cultured foods (standard 1.5.4).

A food is a cell-cultured food if it is ‘obtained by culturing cells isolated from any of the following sources: livestock; poultry; game; seafood (including fish); an egg or an embryo of any of the former’.

Like novel foods, the Code prohibits the sale of food which is a cell-cultured food (or which has a cell-cultured food as an ingredient or component) unless that cell-cultured food is listed in schedule 25A of the Code and sold in accordance with any conditions provided for in that schedule.

As at the date of this article, the Application Handbook does not yet include guidance for those seeking approval of cell-cultured food. FSANZ has stated that it is in the process of updating the Application Handbook and may add requirements for cell-cultured food. Until then, the required information to be included in an application remains unclear.

FSANZ’s consideration process

FSANZ may use one of five procedures to consider an application submitted to it including, relevantly:

1. general procedure process, which will be adopted unless one of the other procedures should apply (general procedure); and
2. modified procedure process for developing new food regulatory measures and major variations (major procedure).

Vow sought to have its application dealt with under the general procedure process, but FSANZ utilised the major procedure, which requires two rounds of public consultations.

Any application for a new cell-cultured food is likely to be dealt with under the general procedure or major procedure, summarised in the below table. Using either route, it is an extensive process!

Protect your investments: bearing confidentiality in mind

Applicants seeking approval for novel foods, foods produced using gene technologies, or cell-cultured foods may feel hesitant providing commercially sensitive information to FSANZ, especially when that information is the result of significant investments of time and resources.

Under both the general and major procedures, FSANZ publishes the application on its website and invites public submissions. To prevent the publication of commercially sensitive information, applicants must identify any 'confidential commercial information' in their application (as defined in the Food Standards Australia New Zealand Act 1991 (Cth) s 4).

Applicants should clearly identify and separate any confidential commercial information in their application. They must also provide reasons for its confidentiality and include a non-confidential general summary of the confidential commercial information.

If FSANZ agrees the information is confidential commercial information, it will not publish that information and may only use it for specific purposes.

Avoiding a case of mistaken identity: naming and labelling requirements

The new standard 1.5.4 in the Code requires labelling cell-cultured food with the food's name and either 'cell-cultured' or 'cell-cultivated'. FSANZ considers this approach as 'balancing flexibility for industry while facilitating informed consumer choice, evidence-based and easy to implement and enforce' (A1269 Approval Report, p 11).

Arguably, s 18 of the Australian Consumer Law (which prohibits misleading or deceptive conduct in trade or commerce) would require the sale of cell-cultured food with such a label in any event, since reasonable consumers would not expect their food to be cell-cultured unless it were clearly indicated so.

Some readers may be surprised that cell-cultured quail can be referred to as ‘quail’ at all, but this aligns with FSANZ’s existing regulatory approach. Standard 1.1.1-13 of the Code allows a food name to be used for a different food if the context makes it clear the product is not the named food. For example, plant-based milks can use the word 'milk' if it is clear the product is not dairy (eg, 'soy milk').

Are we trending towards greater acceptance of innovative food solutions?

Australia is not the first market to approve cell-cultured foods. The Singapore Food Agency approved Vow's product in March 2024 under its novel food regulations. Vow has also expanded into Hong Kong, where no specific regulations govern the production or sale of cultured meat.

Other global approvals include:

• Singapore Food Agency approved a cultured chicken product in December 2020;
• The US Food and Drug Administration conducted two premarket consultations for foods made with chicken cell material, which the US Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service subsequently approved; and
• The Ministry of Health National Food Services in Israel has approved cell-cultured beef.

Outside cell-cultured foods, FSANZ recently approved a proposal to amend the Code's provisions governing foods produced using gene technology. The proposal began in February 2020 and, following FSANZ's major procedure, included two rounds of public consultation.

• The changes updated the definitions for 'food produced using gene technology' and 'gene technology,' shifting from a process-based to an outcome-based approach.
• The new definitions focus on the presence of 'novel DNA' in the organism or cells from which food is derived, rather than the modification process. This approach aims to provide greater regulatory clarity, ensure proportionality to risk, and better align with international regulatory trends.
• The amendments retain the existing product-based approach to GM food labelling. Approved GM foods will still require pre-market safety assessment and approval before they can be sold.
• The approval is now before the Australian and New Zealand food Ministers, who have until 17 August 2025 to consider FSANZ’s decision.

Although the recent regulatory developments in Australia signal a more proactive regulatory approach to cell-cultured and other innovative foods, it is yet to be seen how consumers react to these new foods – are consumers ready for new food sources or will cell-cultured, genetically modified and other novel foods continue to be labelled as ‘frankenfoods’?

Additionally, it is not yet clear how cell-cultured foods fit within ethical and religious dietary practices. While some will make their own personal decisions about whether cell-cultured meats fit within their vegetarian diets, it is yet to be seen whether cell-cultured foods are eligible for kosher or halal certification or are otherwise consistent with other religious dietary practices.

While Vow’s successful application for approval of its cell-cultured food appears to be part of a larger trend towards the acceptance of cell-cultured, genetically modified and other novel foods, we expect to see further developments in this space as regulators, consumers and other stakeholders continue to respond to these innovations.

If you would like to discuss any of these issues further, please contact Scott Bouvier, Lauren D’Ambrosio or any of the team below.