Supervisory Regulations and Standards for Vegetarian Meat in China and Other Countries: Comparative Analysis and Enlightenments

Artificial meat falls into two categories: vegetarian meat and cultured meat. High production costs and unknown food safety supervision risks are major obstacles restricting the marketing of cultured meat. In contrast, as a traditional artificial meat with huge market potential, vegetarian meat is becoming a hotspot in the global food industry. New vegetarian meat products such as plant-based burger and vegetarian nuggets have been put on the market. However, food safety regulations and standard systems for vegetarian meat have not been well established, which brings challenges to compliance supervision and the healthy development of the industry. This article systematically reviews the current regulations and standards for vegetarian meat in some international organizations, developed countries and regions such as the Codex Alimentarius Commission, the United States, the European Union, Canada, Singapore, Australia, and New Zealand, as well as China. Meanwhile, we compare the characteristics of vegetarian meat in terms of product nomenclature and classification, the use of the animal-derived ingredients, quality indicators, the use of food additives and nutrition supplements, microbial limits, and labelling and claims between China and foreign countries. Finally, some suggestions are proposed for improving the vegetarian meat regulations and standard system in China.