Cell‐cultured meat and seafood offer a sustainable opportunity to meet the world's increasing demand for protein in a climate‐changed world. A responsible, data‐driven approach to assess and demonstrate safety of cell‐cultured meat and seafood can support consumer acceptance and help fully realize the potential of these products. As an initial step toward a thorough demonstration of safety, this review identifies hazards that could be introduced during manufacturing, evaluates applicability of existing safety assessment approaches, and highlights research priorities that could support safe commercialization. Input was gathered from members of the cultured meat and seafood industry, researchers, regulators, and food safety experts. A series of workshops were held with 87 industry representatives and researchers to create a modular manufacturing process diagram, which served as a framework to identify potential chemical and biological hazards along the steps of the manufacturing process that could affect the safety of a final food product. Interviews and feedback on draft documents validated the process diagram and supported hazard identification and evaluation of applicable safety methods. Most hazards are not expected to be novel; therefore, safety assessment methods from a range of fields, such as conventional and novel foods, foods produced from biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, and so forth, are likely to be applicable. However, additional assessment of novel inputs or products with significant differences from existing foods may be necessary. Further research on the safety of the inputs and associated residues, potential for contamination, and development of standardized safety assessment approaches (particularly animal‐free methods) is recommended.

The use of composite materials has seen many new innovations for a large variety of applications. The area of reinforcement in composites is also rapidly evolving with many new discoveries, including the use of hybrid fibers, sustainable materials, and nanocellulose. In this review, studies on hybrid fiber reinforcement, the use of nanocellulose, the use of nanocellulose in hybrid forms, the use of nanocellulose with other nanomaterials, the applications of these materials, and finally, the challenges and opportunities (including safety issues) of their use are thoroughly discussed. This review will point out new prospects for the composite materials world, enabling the use of nano- and micron-sized materials together and creating value-added products at the industrial scale. Furthermore, the use of hybrid structures consisting of two different nano-materials creates many novel solutions for applications in electronics and sensors.

Cellulose nanomaterials (CNs) are emerging advanced materials with many unique properties and growing commercial significance. A life-cycle risk assessment and environmental health and safety roadmap identified potential risks from inhalation of powdered CNs in the workplace as a key gap in our understanding of safety and recommended addressing this data gap to advance the safe and successful commercialization of these materials. Here, we (i) summarize the currently available published literature for its contribution to our current understanding of CN inhalation hazard and (ii) evaluate the quality of the studies for risk assessment purposes using published study evaluation tools for nanomaterials to assess the weight of evidence provided. Our analysis found that the quality of the available studies is generally inadequate for risk assessment purposes but is improving over time. There have been some advances in knowledge about the effects of short-term inhalation exposures of CN. The most recent in vivo studies suggest that short-term exposure to CNs results in transient inflammation, similarly to other poorly soluble, low toxicity dusts such as conventional cellulose, but is markedly different from fibers with known toxicity such as certain types of multiwalled carbon nanotubes or asbestos. However, several data gaps remain, and there is still a lack of understanding of the effects from long-term, low-dose exposures that represent realistic workplace conditions, essential for a quantitative assessment of potential health risk. Therefore, taking precautions when handling dry forms of CNs to avoid dust inhalation exposure is warranted.

As with every new technology, safety demonstration is a critical component of bringing products to market and gaining public acceptance for cultured meat and seafood. This manuscript develops research priorities from the findings of a series of interviews and workshops with governmental scientists and regulators from food safety agencies in fifteen jurisdictions globally. The interviews and workshops aimed to identify the key safety questions and priority areas of research. Participants raised questions about which aspects of cultured meat and seafood production are novel, and the implications of the paucity of public information on the topic. Novel parameters and targets may require the development of new analytical methods or adaptation and validation of existing ones, including for a diversity of product types and processes. Participants emphasized that data sharing of these efforts would be valuable, similar to those already developed and used in the food and pharmaceutical fields. Contributions to such databases from the private and public sectors would speed general understanding as well as efforts to make evaluations more efficient. In turn, these resources, combined with transparent risk assessment, will be critical elements of building consumer trust in cultured meat and seafood products.

Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) are a next-generation cellulose product with many unique properties including applications in the food industry as a food additive, food coating, and in food-contact packaging material. While CNC is anticipated to be safe due to its similarity to the many forms of cellulose currently used as food additives, special consideration is given to it as it is the first manufactured form of cellulose that is nanoscale in both length and width. A proactive approach to safety has been adopted by manufacturers to demonstrate CNC safety toward responsible commercialization. As part of the safety demonstration, in vivo and in vitro testing strategies were commissioned side-by-side with conventional cellulose, which has been safely used in food for decades. Testing included a 90-day rodent feeding study as well as additional physical, chemical, and biological studies in vitro that follow European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) guidance to demonstrate the safe use of novel food ingredients. The strategy includes assessment of neat materials side-by-side with simulated digestion, mimicking conditions that occur along the gastrointestinal tract as well as intracellularly. An intestinal co-culture model examined any potential toxicological effects from exposure to either pristine or digested forms of CNC including cytotoxicity, metabolic activity, membrane permeability, oxidative stress, and proinflammatory responses. None of the studies demonstrated any toxicity via oral or simulated oral exposure. These studies demonstrate that CNC produced by InnoTech Alberta is similarly safe by ingestion as conventional cellulose with a no-observed-adverse-effect level of 2085.3 (males) and 2682.8 (females) mg/kg/day.

An optimal methodology for locating and tracking cellulose nanofibers (CNFs) in vitro and in vivo is crucial to evaluate the environmental health and safety properties of these nanomaterials. Here, we report the use of a new boron-dipyrromethene (BODIPY) reactive fluorescent probe, meso-DichlorotriazineEthyl BODIPY (mDTEB), tailor-made for labeling CNFs used in simulated or in vivo ingestion exposure studies. Time-correlated single photon counting (TCSPC) fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM) was used to confirm covalent attachment and purity of mDTEB-labeled CNFs. The photoluminescence properties of mDTEB-labeled CNFs, characterized using fluorescence spectroscopy, include excellent stability over a wide pH range (pH2 to pH10) and high quantum yield, which provides detection at low (μM) concentrations. FLIM analysis also showed that lignin-like impurities present on the CNF reduce the fluorescence of the mDTEB-labeled CNF, via quenching. Therefore, the chemical composition and the methods of CNF production affect subsequent studies. An in vitro triculture, small intestinal, epithelial model was used to assess the toxicity of ingested mDTEB-labeled CNFs. Zebrafish (Danio rerio) were used to assess in vivo environmental toxicity studies. No cytotoxicity was observed for CNFs, or mDTEB-labeled CNFs, either in the triculture cells or in the zebrafish embryos.