The Netherlands Passes Cultivated Meat and Seafood Agreement

image of beef on a grill — Photo by Kina on Unsplash

In collaboration with cultivated meat producers Meatable and Mosa Meat and sector representative HollandBIO, the Dutch government created a ‘code of practice’ that would make tastings of cultivated meat and seafood possible in controlled environments.

This historic agreement makes the Netherlands the first country in the European Union to make pre-approval tastings of food grown directly from animal cells possible, even before an EU food approval. It follows on the heels of the government’s ‘National Growth Fund’ committing €60M to build a cellular agriculture ecosystem. The organization created to implement the National Growth Fund plan, Cellular Agriculture Netherlands, will have responsibility for implementing the code of practice, including hiring a panel of experts to evaluate requests by companies to conduct tastings of cultivated meat and seafood.

The code of practice was created after an intervention by the Dutch House of Representatives in 2022. A motion sponsored by members Tjeerd de Groot (D66) and Peter Valstar (VVD) requested that the government consult with Dutch cellular agriculture producers to enable pre-approval tastings under controlled and safe conditions. The motion passed by 14 of 17 voting political parties including VVD, BBB, CDA, D66, Christen Unie, PvdA, GroenLinks, PvdD, SP and more.

According to Krijn de Nood, CEO at Meatable, “This is great news for the Netherlands. We know cultivated meat can significantly help reduce climate impact. The Netherlands maintains its pioneering role in Europe and beyond by enabling the tasting of cultivated meat. For Meatable, this means that we can allow consumers to taste and experience our products and make them even better with their feedback. Our goal is to make tasty, cultivated meat that is indistinguishable from traditional meat available to everyone, without harming people, animals or our planet. This development brings that goal closer. We thank the ministries for their constructive collaboration and look forward to inviting the first people to try our sausages, dumplings, and pulled pork!”

Maarten Bosch, CEO of Mosa Meat says, “This is a great achievement for the Dutch government and another proof point that the Netherlands is a global leader in agriculture and food innovation. We thank all 127 members of the Tweede Kamer who voted in favor of finding a way to make this possible and Minister Kuipers, Minister Adema and their teams for being professional and collaborative in getting it done. Mosa Meat will use these controlled tastings to gather invaluable feedback on our products and to educate key stakeholders about the role cellular agriculture can play in helping Europe meet our food sovereignty and sustainability goals.”