Australia approves nation’s first lab-grown meat for high-end menus

Australia – Australia has approved its first lab-grown meat products, with Sydney food-tech startup Vow set to serve cultured quail dishes in upscale restaurants. 

Following a two-year review, Food Standards Australia New Zealand has given Vow the green light to sell three products made from cultured Japanese quail cells: a whipped parfait, foie gras and an edible tallow candle. Under the sub-brand Forged, the cultivated meat products will appear on menus at Bottarga in Melbourne and Nel in Sydney, with global demand for Vow’s products reportedly growing by 200% each month. 

‘We selected very high-end products, very high-end positioning… as a way of trying to shape and influence food culture,’ says Vow CEO George Peppou. 

Rather than replicating traditional foie gras exactly, Vow’s version tones down the offal-heavy flavour. Its unique texture and form reflect a key ambition: to create new culinary experiences, not just alternatives. 

With one of the world’s largest food-grade bioreactors, Vow joins just two other companies in the world permitted to sell cultivated meat, a milestone in the shift from lab to luxury dining.

Explore our Cultivated Meat Market feature to meet the innovators pioneering sustainable protein solutions that appeal to meat lovers and vegans.