Issue Consumer acceptance, divergent international rules and scale-up costs for alternative food production

Summary

Consumer awareness of cultured meat, precision-fermented protein and vertical farm produce remains limited, and some consumers still see such food as artificial and unsafe. KISTEP warns that this perception could slow early market entry. Standards for cell-cultured food, precision fermentation, plant-based alternatives and carbon labelling differ from country to country, so exporters must satisfy several regulatory and labelling regimes at once. On the technical side, high energy costs and capital expenditure are the biggest obstacle to making vertical farms and smart farms economic, which calls for links to renewable energy, efficiency gains and a focus on high-value crops. Culture media made from food-grade ingredients must also match research-grade performance for cell growth and differentiation while reducing variation between production batches.