Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has made an assessment of the effectiveness of regulatory (a) frameworks and (b) standards at supporting the (i) growth and (ii) competitiveness of the alternative protein sector.

Defra continues to support the Food Standards Agency (FSA) as they develop processes for approval of new alternative protein products while reviewing their novel food regulations. We want to enable a UK food system that supports the Government in meeting its goals for sustainable, healthy and affordable food, and it is of utmost importance that we maintain our world-leading consumer safety standards. We are supporting progress on a wide range of ways to do this, including alternative proteins and gene editing.