NEWS: USDA-FSIS advance notice on cultured cells meat

News from AAFC’s Market Access Secretariat

The Market Access Secretariat (MAS) at Agriculture and Agri-food Canada (AAFC) would like to flag that on September 3, 2021,  the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) published an advance notice of proposed rulemaking on the Labelling of Meat or Poultry Products Comprised of or Containing Cultured Animal Cells.  This was also notified to the WTO Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Committee under G/TBT/N/USA/1657 on September 6th, 2021.

Through the advance notice, FSIS is requesting comments on the labelling of meat and poultry products comprised of or containing cultured cells derived from animals subject to the Federal Meat Inspection Act or the Poultry Products Inspection Act. The advance notice also discusses how FSIS will generally evaluate labels for these products if they are submitted before the rulemaking process is completed.

Comments, which must be submitted through this process before November 2, 2021, will inform future rulemaking to establish labelling requirements for these products.

The Government of Canada is considering submitting comments through this process and we would welcome industry stakeholders views and/or input to help inform this exercise.

Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns. aafc.mas-sam.aac@agr.gc.ca