A report from the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and Food Standards Scotland (FSS) has identified the food technologies most likely to reach the UK public within ten years.
The FSA and FSS’s Thematic Report on Emerging Food Innovations, which was produced by the Market Authorisation Innovation Research Programme (IRP), has identified the technologies most likely to generate food safety and regulatory needs in Great Britain over the coming decade.
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT)-funded programme aims to complement the Cell-Cultivated Products Regulatory Sandbox, launched in March 2025, which works to give innovators early engagement with regulators before formal applications for cell-cultivated products are submitted.
The report aims to identify areas likely to have the greatest impact on the food system, including:
- Controlled environment agriculture (CEA), or vertical farming – growing crops in climate-controlled indoor spaces where conditions are heavily monitored and nutrients are administered precisely.
- Precision and biomass fermentation – exploiting rapid microbial growth to produce protein rich biomass for food.
- Cellular agriculture, including cell-cultivated foods – new foods that don’t involve traditional farming such as rearing livestock or growing plants and grains.
- Edible insects – which may be sold as whole insects or used as ingredients (for example, powders added to familiar foods).
- Molecular farming – using plants or plant cells as tiny factories to make specific food ingredients, such as proteins and enzymes.
- Gas fermentation – using microbes to convert captured carbon dioxide, hydrogen or other industrial gases into single cell proteins and other useful food ingredients.
- 3D food printing – building foods like chocolate or mashed potato out of layering edible ingredients from a printer.
- Reverse food manufacturing – taking nutrients back out of food by-products and turning them into new ingredients.
Emerging technologies such as molecular farming remain at an early stage, while reverse food manufacturing and 3D food printing are conceptual and are a longer-term watchlist area, stated the report.
Dr Thomas Vincent, deputy director of innovation at the FSA, said: “Emerging technologies are reshaping how our food is produced and sourced. This report gives industry and Government clear sight of what is coming, and what is required to ensure these products meet the UK’s high standards. The FSA and FSS’s remit is central to delivering these ambitions and by working early with innovators, we can support safe, responsible growth and build consumer confidence in the foods of the future.”
FSA and FSS said the report provides the “clearest picture to date” of how cutting-edge food production systems are evolving, and what this means for proportionate, future-ready regulation. By setting out the regulatory implications in advance, the report aims to enable companies to plan long-term research, manufacturing and investment strategies with greater certainty.
The bodies went on to say that for regulators, the report would provide a “strategic blueprint” for where scientific capability, guidance development and risk assessment approaches will need to evolve to keep pace with innovation.
Evidence collected from people through focus groups and surveys also informed the report’s development, ensuring that regulatory planning reflects the questions and concerns raised by the public.
