There’s more going on in Paris these days than the Olympics. A French food tech startup based in the City of Lights has become the first company to apply for approval in the European Union for cultured/cultivated meat, in this case foie gras.
Gourmey on its LinkedIn page on July 26 confirmed reports of its application. “We're indeed the first company to request novel food approval for cultivated foods in the EU, which has one of the most robust food safety frameworks in the world. Hopefully, this is just the beginning of a long series!”
Foie gras is a textbook case of an animal-based food that could be replaced by culturing cells. It’s expensive and has garnered global criticism over animal welfare concerns. Made from the bloated liver of a force-fed duck or goose, its production has been banned in a dozen EU countries. But in France, it's celebrated.
“It’s really not about replacing anything, but it’s actually about complementing the current offer,” Nicolas Morin-Forest, CEO of Gourmey, told Politico. “We are a French company, and we see this first product as paying tribute to an iconic delicacy of our gastronomy.”
He noted that Gourmey has also applied for market approval in emerging markets like the U.K. and Switzerland, plus established ones in Singapore and the U.S.
The EU submission kicks off a one-and-a-half to two-year evaluation, consisting of a nine-month risk assessment by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) followed by a seven-month risk management process, Politico explained. EU countries ultimately vote by qualified majority (at least 55% of countries representing 65% of the bloc’s population) on whether to allow the product. If all goes well, Gourmey’s duck product could be available for high-end European chefs by 2026 and on supermarket shelves in the years after.
The company raised €48M ($52 million) in venture capital financing in October 2022, enabling it to open a 46,000-sq.-ft. production facility and R&D center in Paris.
Cultured meat is a polarizing topic in Europe. While many countries are interested – and the first cultured meat was created in Netherlands – there is much cultural-based opposition. Italy last November banned such foods in support of Italian food traditions.
