The UK’s Department of Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) has awarded the Food Standards Agency (FSA) £1.4 million to support a new innovation hub.
This hub will develop and expand specialist expertise in regulating innovative technologies, with a focus on precision fermented foods, making sure these products are safe to eat before they are sold.
The new hub will also give greater clarity on regulatory requirements to innovators and investors.
The hub will bring together the FSA’s existing work on novel foods and food created through genetic technology, alongside the recently launched sandbox for cell-cultivated products.
Specifically, the funding will enable the FSA to:
- Boost scientific capacity to risk assess these innovative products
- Provide greater regulatory clarity to industry on how to gain market authorisation in Great Britain alongside Food Standards Scotland, including through a new business-focused guidance hub
- Support wider innovation in food through enhanced regulatory capacity on the most innovative products.
Professor Susan Jebb, Chair of the FSA, said: “We’re pleased to secure this additional funding to make the risk assessment of innovative products swifter, without compromising on food safety.
“There is growing interest in the potential of new technologies to increase the UK’s food security and provide affordable, healthy, and sustainable food.
“This important new project will give innovators greater support in navigating the regulations under which we assess if food is safe, making the system more efficient and enabling safe products to come to the market more quickly.
“The public can remain confident that the foods they choose are safe and the UK economy can benefit from business investment, so as a nation we will be able to take early advantage of the potential these technologies offer.”