New video shows food safety measures used in cell-based steak production

FAO has produced a video to provide an example of how companies use food safety measures to keep their innovative cell-based food safe during production. A number of scientists walk viewers through the different steps in producing steak from cells from a cow in the 20-minute video, called ‘Ensuring the safety of cell-based food’. Also known as cell-cultured or cultivated food, cell-based food involves culturing cells isolated from animals followed by processing to produce food products that are comparable to the corresponding animal versions, such as meat, poultry, seafood, eggs and dairy products.

Masami Takeuchi, FAO Food Safety Officer, explains that while this production system is new, the methods of ensuring food safety are similar to those used in other forms of agriculture.
“Seeing new foods on the market can be exciting,” Takeuchi says in the video, noting that for some eating something new can be scary. “Either way, the food needs to be safe,” she says.

This educational video shows the various food safety measures used in producing cell-based steak at Aleph Farms, in Rehovot, Israel.

Watch the video on YouTube

Read about FAO’s work on the safety of cell-based food here