C-Label: Do We Need A Certification for Cultivated Meat?


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Swiss certification body V-Label has rolled out C-Label, a new accreditation for cell-based products like cultivated meat. But does the industry need it?

To help consumers identify and understand how products like cultivated meat are made, V-Label has introduced a certification system for these novel foods.

Complementing its vegetarian and vegan accreditation marks, C-Label is described by its issuing organization as a globally registered “robust certification system” to ensure the highest standards of cultivated meat production and distribution.

London-based pet food maker Meatly, the first cultivated meat company to be cleared to sell in the UK, is the inaugural recipient of the certification, with its cultivated chicken set to sport the C-Label upon launch.

“As we move closer and closer towards a world where cultivated meat will become the norm, certification such as the C-Label will be increasingly necessary for consumer confidence in this new and revolutionary product,” said Meatly co-founder and CEO Owen Ensor.

The label isn’t restricted to just retail products, reveals V-Label founder Renato Pichler. “We certify producers of the cells, but also the producers of the end product,” he tells Green Queen. “Everything has to start with the production of the cells. But you can’t certify an end product if you haven’t already certified the actual cell production behind it.”

Pichler argues that the market for these products is developing “very quickly”, and the C-Label can help “increase the transparency of the whole cultured sector”.

lab grown meat approved
Courtesy: Meatly

No C-Label for cell-based chocolate or coffee

The Swiss organisation has laid out several criteria for the C-Label. No animals can be slaughtered in the process, and any interventions or procedures must be demonstrably necessary, painless and stress-free. The products should be free from pathogens, antibiotics, heavy metals, plastics and GMOs, and must use animal-free cell media.

Since C-Label encourages the use of animal-free tech wherever possible, it only permits immortalised cells for now, which does away with the need for constant cell extraction.

So what kind of products can apply for the certification? “From a food perspective, where the majority of current development is focused, this can include products made entirely out of cultivated meat (e.g. beef burgers), as well as hybrid products that combine cultivated meat with plant-based ingredients, such as cultivated beef patties with plant-based binders or cultivated chicken dumplings with vegan dough,” says Pichler.

He adds that all non-cultivated components must meet vegan criteria. “The technology can also be used in non-food applications such as leather, where our certification will be available as long as our criteria are met and the underlying technology remains the same,” he says.

However, innovations like cell-based chocolate or coffee aren’t covered by the C-Label just yet. “The C-label was developed specifically for products grown from a cell of animal origin, which could be considered close to vegan, but not quite strictly vegan,” notes Pichler.

“We do not rule out such a cooperation in principle, as production methods are also evolving fast, and we remain to see what technologies the future holds. However, this is not the primary intention of the C-Label.”

cell based chocolate
Courtesy: Kokomodo

Amid industry uncertainty, C-Label ‘prepares for the future’

That debate around whether cultivated meat can be considered vegan has split opinion, and prompted The Vegan Society to publish a briefing that decidedly said these proteins can never be vegan. V-Label reiterates that stance, and hence sees the need for the C-Label.

“We do not consider cultivated meat vegan, as it is molecularly identical to conventional meat and by definition cannot entirely exclude animal sourcing from the production process (only tremendously minimise it). While C-Label licensed products guarantee that all production materials outside the original sourcing are vegan, the original cell sourcing comes from an animal,” says Pichler.

“We have been monitoring this technology for a long time, and it has been clear to us from the beginning, that we would not consider it vegan,” he adds. “However, we also see a huge potential to reduce animal suffering, which is why we consider its promotion relevant. V-Label would not have been the right channel for this, as the target group is fundamentally different.”

cultivated meat label
Courtesy: C-Label

The biggest impact certification logos like C-Label would have is on the consumer front. But to date, only one company has sold cultivated meat in retail – but Eat Just’s Good Meat chicken is no longer available at Huber’s Butchery in Singapore. And any new launches feel few and far in between. So does the industry need an accreditation logo?

“Launching the C-Label now is about preparing for the future and building trust early. While retail products may feel distant, cultivated meat is already available in the US and Singapore, and well in the pipeline in other regions such as Europe,” says Pichler.

“As a global label, C-Label needs to take the different levels of development around the world into consideration. With over $3B invested in this technology and hundreds of companies involved, the market is developing rapidly. Furthermore, the public is still lacking foundational understanding when it comes to cultivated meat, creating an important need for information,” he adds.

“The C-Label establishes clear standards, supports industry collaboration, and helps educate consumers, ensuring the industry develops responsibly and is ready to scale when approval is gained in each region. Acting now positions us to guide this emerging technology toward a more ethical and sustainable future.”

Author

  • Anay Mridul

    Anay is Green Queen's resident news reporter. Originally from India, he worked as a vegan food writer and editor in London, and is now travelling and reporting from across Asia. He's passionate about coffee, plant-based milk, cooking, eating, veganism, food tech, writing about all that, profiling people, and the Oxford comma.

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