Cultured Meat and Dairy as a Game-Changing Technology in the Agricultural and Food Transition in the EU: What Role for Law?

Abstract

The EU is on the eve of an agricultural and food transition aimed at reducing harmful environmental and climate impacts of agriculture and at reducing negative health impacts of unhealthy food. Much attention is focused on animal based food, especially meat and dairy. The emergence of cultured meat and dairy as a disruptive technology on the food market could be an accelerator of the agricultural and food transition. Replacing animal-grown meat and animal produced milk with lab-grown meat and dairy has the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from livestock to zero, sharply reduce the current nitrogen and phosphate overload, and transform landscapes through the allocation of space now used for grazing and for the production of animal feed to other uses. This chapter answers the question how law can facilitate a smooth agricultural and food transition with a focus on the emergence of cultured meat and dairy. There are roughly three interconnected categories of regulatory interventions which may accommodate large scale introduction of cultured meat and dairy: laws aimed at limiting the production and demand of conventional meat and dairy, laws aimed at stimulating the production and demand of cultured meat and dairy, and laws aimed at ensuring that cultured meat production is safe, nutritious, fair and sustainable.

Keywords: climate change law, food transition, agriculture, technology, livestock, cultured meat, rewilding

JEL Classification: K19, K23, K29, K32, Q01, Q15, Q18