Scope
Description
The main objective of the FSA's strategy for 2022-2027 is to ensure that food is safe, is what it says that it is and that it is healthier and more sustainable. With this, our role is to protect consumers from unacceptable risks linked to the consumption of food. Under the regulated products research programme, this includes producing evidence to support thorough, well informed, risk assessments for novel ingredients proposed for the UK market.
Cell cultivated products (CCPs) and alternative proteins produced by biomass or precision fermentation are an emergent food sector around the world. The FSA CCP Sandbox programme is a two-year programme designed to inform regulatory actions that strike the right balance between supporting innovation and ensuring consumers safety. CCPs products claim to have benefits in protein quality, environmental impact, and improved animal welfare implications. This proposed piece of work is attempting to address a key gap in our understanding of the genetic drift of the production cell line occurring during the production of these products, and how producers will be able to effectively demonstrate that they have mitigated any potential hazards. These outputs will then be used to reduce the uncertainties in our future risk assessments and will help facilitate the authorisation of products that we can be confident are safe for use under the proposed uses.
Total value (estimated)
- £50,000 excluding VAT
- £60,000 including VAT
Below the relevant threshold
Contract dates (estimated)
- 1 November 2025 to 29 March 2026
- 4 months, 29 days
Main procurement category
Services
CPV classifications
- 73000000 - Research and development services and related consultancy services
Contract locations
- UK - United Kingdom
Participation
Conditions of participation
None
Particular suitability
- Small and medium-sized enterprises (SME)
- Voluntary, community and social enterprises (VCSE)
Submission
Enquiry deadline
24 September 2025, 4:00pm
Tender submission deadline
14 October 2025, 12:00pm
Submission address and any special instructions
Tenders for FSA funded projects must be submitted through the health-family single e-Commercial System (Atamis), using the following link: https://health-family.force.com/s/Welcome. Failure to do so may result in the tender response not being processed by the system or the response being automatically disqualified during the evaluation stage of the tender process
Tenders may be submitted electronically
Yes
Award criteria
Technical and Commercial criteria is set out within the Specification.
Procedure
Procedure type
Below threshold - open competition
Contracting authority
Food Standards Agency
- Public Procurement Organisation Number: PJRM-6866-LYYX
YO1 7PR
York
YO1 7PR
United Kingdom
Region: UKE21 - York
Organisation type: Public authority - central government