Cultivated meat and dairy as a game-changing technology in the agricultural and food transition in the EU: What role for law?

Description

Paper presented. Abstract: The EU is on the eve of an agricultural and food transition aimed at reducing harmful environmental and climate impacts of agriculture and at reducing negative health impacts of unhealthy food. Much attention is focused on animal-based food, especially meat and dairy. The emergence of cultivated meat and dairy as a disruptive technology on the food market could be an accelerator of the agricultural and food transition. Replacing animal-grown meat and animal-produced milk with lab-grown meat and dairy has the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from livestock to zero, reduce the current nitrogen and phosphate overload, and transform landscapes through the reallocation of space now used for grazing and for the production of animal feed to other uses. This chapter answers the question how law can facilitate a smooth agricultural and food transition with a focus on the emergence of cultivated (or cultured) meat and cultured dairy (through precision fermentation) and other meat alternatives. There are roughly three interconnected categories of regulatory interventions which may accommodate large-scale introduction of cultivated meat and dairy: laws aimed at limiting the production of and demand for conventional meat and dairy, laws aimed at stimulating the production of and demand for cultivated meat and dairy, and laws aimed at ensuring that cultivated meat production is safe, nutritious, fair and sustainable.

Period	28 Mar 2024
Event title	Living Environmental Law
Event type	Conference
Location	Wageningen, NetherlandsShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International