Skip to main content
Knowledge4Policy
Knowledge for policy

Supporting policy with scientific evidence

We mobilise people and resources to create, curate, make sense of and use knowledge to inform policymaking across Europe.

  • Publication | 2024

Plant-based food products, precision fermentation and 3D food printing

Global Food and Nutrition Security

New food sources and production systems (NFPS) is a rapidly evolving and innovative sector that covers a range of foods from plant-based food products to products arising from technological innovations such as cell-based food production and precision fermentation.The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) aims to help prepare its Members for the arrival of NFPS products or new foods on the market by providing sufficient information to suitably protect the health of consumers and implement fair practices in trade. Using foresight approaches, FAO has been monitoring this emerging sector and evaluating the opportunities and challenges it brings for agrifood systems, especially in the context of food safety.Based on this work, three focus areas were selected for a Food Safety Foresight Technical Meeting held at FAO headquarters in Rome from 13 to 17 November 2023. These areas – plant-based food products (that mimic animal-derived foods), precision fermentation and 3D food printing (3DFP) – were chosen based on their growing popularity in the NFPS space, and their relevance to food safety.