Safe Food Victoria to regulate cell-cultured foods from 1 July 2027

SFV advises that a declaration to make cell-cultured food a ‘declared food’ under the section 21B of the Dairy and Food Innovation Act 2000 was published in the Victorian Government Gazette on 26 October 2026.

The declaration will take effect from 1 July 2027 which means that SFV will be the regulator for cell-cultured foods in Victoria. While there are currently no cell cultured food producers in Victoria, SFV looks forward to working with businesses wanting to bring these products to market.

Cell-cultured foods are made by growing isolated animal or plant cells in a controlled environment for use as ingredients in foods. They are different to food ingredients produced by precision fermentation, which involves inserting the genetic code for the desired substance (such as a milk protein, a fat or enzyme) into a microorganism such as yeast or bacteria, which then produce and secrete that substance during fermentation.

There are no changes to the regulatory arrangements for businesses manufacturing products by precision fermentation.

More information on precision fermentation and cell cultured food production technologies can be found here SFV fact sheet.