UK Food Standards Agency awarded £1.4m to support new innovation hub focusing on precision fermentation

Precision fermentation, a cutting-edge food technology that the UK Food Standards Agency’s new innovation hub aims to support and regulate. Credit: Shutterstock

The UK’s Food Standards Agency (FSA) has secured £1.4 million in funding from the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) to support the establishment of a new innovation hub. The initiative aims to enhance regulatory expertise around emerging food technologies, particularly precision fermentation, ensuring food safety while fostering industry innovation.

The new hub will consolidate the FSA’s existing efforts on novel foods and genetic technology while also integrating the recently launched regulatory sandbox for cell-cultivated products. It will provide greater regulatory clarity for food innovators and investors, helping them navigate the approval process more efficiently.

Professor Susan Jebb, Chair of the FSA, welcomed the funding, stating: “We’re pleased to secure this additional funding to make the risk assessment of innovative products swifter, without compromising on food safety. There is growing interest in the potential of new technologies to increase the UK’s food security and provide affordable, healthy, and sustainable food.”

The investment will enable the FSA to:

• Enhance scientific capacity for assessing the safety of innovative food products.

• Offer clear regulatory guidance to businesses on gaining market authorisation in Great Britain, working in partnership with Food Standards Scotland.

• Strengthen regulatory capacity to support innovation in food production.

Precision fermentation is a rapidly developing field that uses microbial hosts to produce ingredients such as proteins, fats, and flavour compounds with high efficiency. The technology is being explored as a way to develop sustainable alternatives to traditional animal-derived products, reducing environmental impact while ensuring food security.

The UK government has identified food innovation as a key driver of economic growth and sustainability, particularly in the wake of Brexit. By supporting regulatory clarity and streamlining approval processes, the FSA hopes to create a more dynamic food innovation landscape that encourages investment and accelerates the introduction of safe and sustainable products to market.

“This important new project will give innovators greater support in navigating the regulations under which we assess if food is safe, making the system more efficient and enabling safe products to come to the market more quickly,” added Jebb. “The public can remain confident that the foods they choose are safe and the UK economy can benefit from business investment, so as a nation we will be able to take early advantage of the potential these technologies offer.”

With this funding, the FSA aims to position the UK as a global leader in food innovation, balancing safety with progress in emerging food technologies. The new innovation hub will serve as a critical resource for businesses, providing them with expert guidance and a clearer regulatory pathway, ensuring that novel foods reach consumers in a safe and timely manner.