Aleph Farms, a venture company developing cell-cultured meat in Israel, announced on January 18 that it had received approval from the Israeli Ministry of Health to sell steaks developed from cultured beef cells. The only cultured meat sold globally thus far has been chicken. (Nikkei Biotech Online Edition 2024/1/19)

A consortium, FEASTS (Fostering European Cellular Agriculture for Sustainable Transition Solution), has been established to develop cultured meat in Europe. The joint research will be funded by the EU for three years. The Japan Agency for Cellular Agriculture is also participating.
(Foovo 2024/2/7)

Food tech is already showing signs of gloom in Japan, with an edible insect company recently going bankrupt. In our January 2024 issue, we reported on plummeting soy-meat food sales, and in our February issue, we reported on the closing of the official online shop, Korogi Lab, operated by Gryllus. This it seems a series of venture companies working on food tech are facing a deteriorating business environment. CricketFarm, a company farming and selling crickets, has triggered a cash-flow deterioration right across its software contractor parent company, INDETAIL, and its group of companies due to declining business. Three companies, including one affiliate, have gone bankrupt.
(Shinano Mainichi Newspaper 2024/2/1)

On December 28, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) granted subsidies to 25 companies engaged in the development of food tech and genome-editing foods out of 111 applications in the first round of the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR). Among the companies that received subsidies were the Utilization of Carbon Dioxide Institute Co., Ltd., which is developing foods from microbial proteins, Regional Fish Institute Ltd., which is developing genome-editing fish, PtBio Inc., which developing low-allergen eggs using genome-editing technology, and IntegriCulture Inc., which is developing cultured meat. Regional Fish Institute Ltd. was awarded the largest grant.

On February 8, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare's (MHLW) Investigative Panel on Newly Developed Foods summarized its opinions on cultured meat and drew up a policy for the future. The panel thus decided to formulate guidance on the premise of promoting cultured meat. The guidance (1) summarizes problems specific to cultured meat and considers whether action is necessary. Points for which action is required are the types and conditions of the cells used, whether there are physical or chemical changes in the cells during culture, and whether chemical substances, etc. are generated or retained during culture. Additionally, (2) the guidance summarizes problems such as allergens which are also considered in existing foods, and whether the thinking for existing foods can be applied to cultured meat will be considered.