Cultivated-meat plant of Good Meat in Alameda, California (Just Eat)
When I wrote about the three mistakes people make about cultivated meat — comparing its current price to that of traditional (and subsidized) meat, comparing cultivated meat to a perfect world, and betting against progress — I also pointed out the industry does have real challenges:
Growing more than muscle fibers in order to make complex meats, like steaks.
Cultivating meat at scale.
Getting regulatory and political approval.
I investigated those challenges for Nieuwe Oogst, a Dutch agrarian magazine. Here is a summary for English readers. (more…)
Cultivated meat in a petri dish (iStock/Svetlana Cherruty)
Two Californian companies, Good Meat and Upside Foods, have received approval to sell cultivated meat in the United States. They plan to offer it in upscale restaurants first and in grocery stores by 2028.
It makes America the second country in the world to legalize cultivated meat. Singapore was first in 2020. Israel could become the third: its regulators have received applications by food companies.
Europe is falling behind. It may take years before the EU allows meat grown from animal cells on its single market. However, the Netherlands — where cultivated meat was invented — is making it possible to taste cultivated meat at its two companies, Meatable and Mosa Meat. RTL News reports that the Dutch Food Safety Authority is expected to issue guideline for tastings in the coming weeks.
It is exciting news for those of us who like to eat meat, but don’t like to slaughter animals for it. Two in three Americans would try cultivated meat, according to a survey. The Good Food Institute, a think tank that promotes alternative proteins, has found similar interest in Europe.
A loud minority is vehemently opposed, and they are fed arguments by a livestock industry that considers cultivated meat a threat.
Let’s tackle the three biggest mistakes they make. (more…)
Glovo courier makes a delivery in Milan, Italy at night, February 17, 2019 (Unsplash/Andrea Ferrario)
European labor ministers have agreed to bring millions of gig-economy workers into regulation.
Reforms, which still need to be approved by the European Parliament, would put the onus on platforms like Deliveroo and Uber to prove their workers are not employees.
Employees are eligible for minimum wage and sick pay, protected against summary dismissal and they qualify for pension and unemployment benefits. (more…)
American president Ronald Reagan at Rancho Del Cielo in California, August 31, 1985 (Ronald Reagan Presidential Library)
Ronald Reagan once quipped about government’s view of the economy: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.
For the American president, it was a cautionary tale. In the newspaper Trouw, I argue the Dutch government seems to have mistaken it for advice. (more…)
Wind turbines near Mölsheim, Germany (Unsplash/Karsten Würth)
EU countries have agreed to increase their share of renewable energy. The European Commission has proposed to fund green hydrogen and set goals for clean tech as well as the mining of rare earth materials needed to make electric cars and solar panels.
The proposals fall under the European Green Deal, which aims to cut the bloc’s greenhouse gas emissions 55 percent by 2030 and to net-zero by 2050.
Critics worry the sustainability push will come at the expense of competition, nature conservation and free trade.
Here is an overview of what has been agreed, what has been proposed, the costs and the tradeoffs. (more…)
Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni arrives to a meeting of European leaders in Brussels, December 15, 2022 (European Council)
Europe’s refusal to allow the sale of cultivated meat is bad enough, but Italy is taking it one step further. Its right-wing government on Tuesday decided to ban the production and sale of all “synthetic foods”.
No wonder food innovators are fleeing to America, Israel and Singapore. (more…)
French president Emmanuel Macron listens to European Council president Ursula von der Leyen during a summit in Prague, Czech Republic, October 6, 2022 (European Council)
77 percent of all state aid approved in the EU last year went to French and German companies, according to figures from the European Commission.
The two countries, which have 40 percent of the European economy between them, benefited from a suspension of antitrust rules first put in place during COVID-19.
France would make the suspension permanent. Two years ago, the European Commission rejected such a French proposal. Now it is more sympathetic.
I have a story in the Netherlands’ Wynia’s Week about what France wants, why the European Commission changed its mind, and how France and Germany were able to take advantage of exemptions to the rules of the single market. Here is a summary for English readers. (more…)
America could ban noncompete clauses by the end of this year. The Federal Trade Commission has proposed to void existing agreements and ban companies from including any in future contracts.
It’s a seemingly simple change that could have massive repercussions.
Economists suspect noncompetes are one reason middle-class wages have stagnated and productivity growth has stalled. At least one in five — 30 million — workers are bound by them.
Once limited to high-paid professionals with access to sensitive company information, noncompete clauses are now routinely inserted into contracts for even fast-food workers and hairstylists.
Paired with weak protections against dismissal, noncompetes give American employers too much power in labor relations. (more…)
Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida, January 25, 2020 (Unsplash/Christian Lambert)
What happened to the party of free enterprise?
In Florida, Republicans are revoking Disney World’s self-government and not even pretending it’s anything but retaliation for the company’s opposition to their education policy.
“I will not allow a woke corporation based in California to run our state,” Governor Ron DeSantis said. “Disney has gotten away with special deals from the state of Florida for way too long.”
Disney World is Florida’s largest employer and manages its own utilities, including firefighting, garbage collection and water reclamation, in the so-called Reedy Creek Improvement District. It can also build homes and attractions without permission from the state or local government.
The arrangement dates from the 1960s, when Disney committed to develop the former swampland into a theme park and town.
The entertainment giant drew DeSantis’ ire when it came out against his Parental Rights in Education law. It prohibits teaching gender identity and sexual orientation to children under the age of 10 in ways that are not “age-appropriate” — without specifying what age-appropriate means. Critics have dubbed it the “Don’t Say Gay” law.
Whatever the merits (for the record, I think schools should teach what they think is best, parents should be able to send their kids to whichever school they think is best, and the Florida law is at a minimum poorly written), punishing a company, or indeed anyone, for their beliefs is an overreach. It is neither conservative nor liberal, and the sort of thing we’d expect in China, not the United States.
It is also rushed. DeSantis does not appear to have thought through what will happen to the Reedy Creek Improvement District’s $1 billion in debts. Taxpayers could be on the hook.
Skyline of Barcelona, Spain (Unsplash/Anastasiia Tarasova)
Maybe I left Spain too soon. The country is trying to lure (back) expats by cutting red tape and taxes.
Early in the pandemic, expats and tourists stayed away when Spain imposed one of the strictest lockdowns in Europe. For weeks, we weren’t allowed to leave our homes except to do groceries and walk the dog.
But as restrictions were relaxed, and teleworking became the norm Europe-wide, sunny Spain suddenly looked more attractive to knowledge workers in Northern Europe. Tens of thousands made the trek south.
Vice President Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden of the United States deliver a news conference outside the White House in Washington DC, May 13 (White House/Adam Schultz)
During last year’s presidential election, Joe Biden promised to end America’s “artificial trade war” with Europe. His predecessor, Donald Trump, had imposed $7.5 billion worth of tariffs on European aluminum and steel.
Biden has relaxed the tariffs, but not abolished them. The EU has completely pulled down its retaliatory tariffs on bourbon whisky and Harley-Davidson motorcycles.
If anyone deserves credit for ending the trade war, it’s the EU. (more…)
Waverley railway station in Edinburgh, Scotland (iStock)
This week, the British government published its long-awaited and somewhat delayed review into the British railway network.
The proposals — putting infrastructure, timetables, fares and tickets back into government hands but allowing private companies to run the trains — are a step in the right direction, but they would keep the network in a twilight zone.
British rail is neither fully private nor fully public, despite the government and the Treasury in particular having control over many aspects of the railway. Accountability is murky. Industry fragmentation — 29 train companies, fifteen leasing companies — has only made it worse. (more…)
Dutch government offices and parliament buildings in The Hague (iStock/Fotolupa)
The Dutch government has extended support for companies and self-employed workers struggling as a result of COVID-19 until July 2021, although some policies are becoming less generous.
The thinking, reports the national broadcaster NOS, is that firms shouldn’t be subsidized if they aren’t viable long term and workers in sectors with job losses should be coaxed into reskilling.
The measures will cost almost €39 billion this year. The Dutch economy is projected to shrink 6.4 percent. (more…)
Donald Trump gives a speech in Derry, New Hampshire, August 19, 2015 (Michael Vadon)
As if we needed more proof the Republican Party has surrendered all its principles to Donald Trump, the president is trying to ban a private company by executive fiat and the party of free enterprise is silent.
Trump may have a point on the merits. The Chinese-owned video-sharing app TikTok has a lot of problems, not in the least its vulnerability to state interference.
But I don’t doubt the only reason Trump cares is that teenagers used TikTok to disrupt one of his rallies in June. They organized a campaign via the app to buy tickets to Trump’s event in Tulsa and never showed up, humiliating the president, who faced a half-empty arena. (more…)
