French Agriculture Minister Tweets France Will Not Support Cell-Based Meat Despite Rising Consumer Acceptance
French agricultural minister Julien Denormandie has made a controversial comment suggesting that France will not agree to the commercialisation of cultivated meat. There has been rising consumer acceptance driven by greater awareness of the health, sustainability, and food security advantages of cell-based proteins. Alternative protein experts have criticised the minister’s remarks, emphasising the need to transform the protein supply chain and shift away from traditional animal agriculture to tackle the climate crisis and threats of future zoonotic pandemics.
In a tweet published on December 3, Denormandie responded to the authorisation for cell-based food products by the Singapore government, suggesting that France would not be open to cultivated proteins.
“Is this what we want for our children, as a society? Me, no! I will clearly state it: meat comes from the living, not laboratories,” wrote Denormandie. “You can rely on me, in France, meat will remain natural and never artificial!”
The comment followed the breaking announcement from San Francisco-based food tech Eat Just that it has received regulatory approval from Singapore to begin selling its cultured chicken, in what is the world’s first-ever commercial cell-based meat product.
The minister’s tweet has already attracted criticism from alternative protein experts, many of whom have pointed out the many advantages that cultivated proteins will bring. These innovations will revolutionise the broken meat supply chain, which is contributing an estimated 18% of global greenhouse gas emissions each year and driving unsustainable practices such as deforestation. E.U. Green Deal supporters have also emphasised the need for novel ways to produce protein to reduce our carbon footprint.
Responding to Denormandie on Twitter, Agriculture Cellulaire France, a French association whose mission is to inform and educate the public about cellular agriculture, wrote: “It would be a shame to reject an innovative production method that would allow France to be competitive in the fast-growing field of alternative proteins. Instead, we are promoting the development of a French sector that guarantees quality!”
Matthew Vincent, founder of DigitalFoodLab and a food tech expert in France, said that the minister’s outright rejection of cell-based meat was “quite upsetting as it ideologically dismisses the technology without looking at its potential benefits. This kind of easy political reaction [that] look[s] after the votes of farmers…is also dismissive of all the efforts of French and European entrepreneurs working on cellular agriculture”.
Many have further highlighted evidence that French consumers are no longer as dismissive of cell-based proteins as they have traditionally been. Cultivated meat has increased support in the wake of the coronavirus, which has highlighted the safety and health advantages of alternative meats. In September, research into cell-based meat acceptance revealed nearly half (44%) of French consumers were willing to try cultured meat.