At the latest week-long meeting of the Codex Committee on Food Additives (CCFA55) held here in Seoul, South Korea from March 24-28, 2025, there was a special afternoon event dedicated to “cell-based food production,“ as Codex calls it. Dr. Dean Powell, an Australian with the self-styled Good Food Institute, kicked off the event with his PowerPoint presentation on this newest miracle of science: lab-grown meat. His slide show laid out the details for creating this shiny, new future for food consumers.

Now It’s Franken-meat Being Pushed

Dr. Markus Lipp, the FAO Science Officer, gushed over the innocuously labeled lab-made meat that opponents call “Franken-meat” as he assured the Codex delegates on Tuesday afternoon, March 25th, 2025, that JECFA’s safety review was not going to be a problem but just a formality.  In fact, he said, “why not create a whole new food category for it” since “it’s not really a food additive.” “Of course,” he continued, gathering speed as his thoughts ran away with him, “There will be objections to it. Some people will feel threatened by it.”

The WHO Science Officer, Dr. Kim Petersen, was not nearly as effusive about these laboratory creations when he asked, “Will consumers accept these products? We are in the beginning of this, and we need some regulatory bodies to look into this.”