The Food Standards Agency (FSA) and Food Standards Scotland (FSS) have today, 30 September 2026, released a new package of supplementary guidance for businesses developing cell-cultivated products. This guidance aims to provide clearer advice on how existing food regulations apply to these products.
The new guidance addresses regulatory authorisation, the assessment of growth media components, and toxicology. It is intended to help businesses prepare stronger applications and understand the standards required to bring products safely to market in Great Britain.
Dr Thomas Vincent, Deputy Director of Innovation at the FSA, stated that each batch of guidance makes the path to market authorisation clearer for companies, while ensuring consumer safety. This is the third set of guidance to emerge from the Sandbox Programme, which began in February 2025 and is scheduled to conclude in February 2027.
In addition to the Sandbox guidance, the FSA has recently published research on cell-cultivated products. This research includes a review of analytical methods and an examination of how genetic drift could affect the safety of these products.