Japan’s Prime Minister Wants to Boost the Farmed Meat Industry to Help Create a Sustainable Food Supply
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has announced plans to start developing Japan’s agricultural industry with the aim of producing farmed meat and fish, according to a story published today by the Japanese news agency, Nikkei.
“We will improve the environment to create a new market, such as efforts to ensure safety and establish labeling regulations, and promote food technology business from Japan,” Prime Minister Kishida said as part of the announcement.
Nikkei reported that Kishida expanded his plans to the House of Representatives Budget Committee on the same day, telling Nobuhiro Nakayama of the Liberal Democratic Party, “Foodtech, including mobile food, is an important technology for realizing sustainable food supply. We must support efforts that contribute to solving the world’s food problems.”
Although Japan’s regulation of the sale of cell-cultured meat is seen by some as creating a smoother path compared to other countries, there are still several regulatory hurdles that must be overcome before cultured meat can be sold to consumers. Last year Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare established an expert team to examine the safety of farmed meat and the production process associated with it. Nearly a year later, the Japanese government is still defining what constitutes raised meat as food and is working to improve safety standards for raw materials and production processes.
Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Katsunobu Kato said, “While we are closely monitoring the state of research and development, scientific findings on safety, and international practices, we will also look at what measures are needed in terms of safety.”
Kishida’s focus on developing the farmed meat industry is an encouraging sign of the many startups from the island nation that have been working to develop farmed meat technology over the past few years. This includes Integriculture, which in 2021 announced the Culnet Consortium, an open innovation platform for cell cultured meat development in Japan and beyond. Japanese food conglomerate Ajinomoto is also keen to develop the market, having struck a deal last year with Israeli cultured meat startup Supermeat.
The support of Japan’s leading government officials also underscores a trend in which we have seen countries with low food sovereignty take a particular interest in new food technologies as a way to increase their self-sufficiency. Singapore and Israel have been doing the same, seeking investment and accelerating measures to regulate the sale of farmed meat.
Here in the US. The road to government approval of farm-raised meat took a big step forward when UPSIDE Foods announced that it has become the first company in the world to receive a “No Questions Asked” letter from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for farm-raised meat, poultry, or seafood. Global eyes are watching the US government’s approval process and some believe we will see farmed meat sold to consumers sometime this year.
