Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) has approved the sale of cultivated quail, marking the first regulatory approval of a cultivated meat product in Australia.

The product, developed by local startup Vow under its Forged brand, was previously launched in Singapore in early 2024 after receiving approval from the Singapore Food Agency.

Vow reported serving over 25,000 portions of its cultivated quail and achieving a production milestone of 538 kilograms in a single harvest.

FSANZ released public feedback and new guidelines to improve transparency and align cultivated meat with traditional food safety standards.

Vow will now distribute its cultivated quail in selected restaurants in Sydney and Melbourne, aiming to support Australia’s growing alt-protein sector.

GFI APAC CEO Mirte Gosker said meeting rising meat demand sustainably will require expanding alternative protein production alongside Australia’s traditional farming methods.

She notes that meat is more popular than ever, especially in Asian markets that import premium Australian proteins.

Gosker adds that Australia’s support for cellular agriculture can help local producers distribute cultivated proteins through existing supply chains.

This could create new revenue streams and support international regulatory alignment, opening export opportunities across populous regions like Asia.

🔗 Source: The Good Food Institute APAC

🧠 Food for thought

1️⃣ From $330,000 to mass production: Cultivated meat’s dramatic evolution

Vow’s achievement represents the culmination of over a decade of remarkable technological progress in cultivated meat production.

When the first lab-grown burger debuted in 2013, it cost an astronomical $330,000 to produce a single patty and was funded by Google co-founder Sergey Brin as a moonshot project 1.

By 2015, production costs had plummeted to approximately $11 per half-pound, a 99% reduction that signaled the industry’s potential viability 2.

Despite this progress, cultivated meat companies have faced persistent challenges in scaling production while maintaining quality. Early prototypes like the 2013 burger lacked fat cells, resulting in dry texture and limited flavor 1.