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World’s Largest Food Companies Call on EU to Include Novel Foods in Regulatory Sandboxes

The EU’s Biotech Act created regulatory sandboxes for food‑tech but left novel foods—such as cultivated meat and precision‑fermented proteins—out. Eight leading food and biotech groups, including FoodDrinkEurope’s members like Nestlé and Danone, issued a joint statement demanding that novel foods be included. They argue the exclusion lacks scientific justification and creates internal inconsistency within the Act. The industry points to the UK’s successful novel‑food sandbox as proof that such frameworks accelerate safety guidance and market entry.