---
title: "Research: Genetic Drift impact on the Safety of Cell Cultivated Products"
ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-05989b"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-05989b"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-05989b.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-05989b.json"
source: "Find A Tender Service"
current_stage: "Award"
buyer: "FOOD STANDARDS AGENCY"
published: "2025-11-18"
---

# Research: Genetic Drift impact on the Safety of Cell Cultivated Products

Buyer: FOOD STANDARDS AGENCY  
Current stage: Award  
OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-05989b

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[Download OCDS JSON](https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-05989b.json)

## Summary

The public procurement process led by the Food Standards Agency, located in York, United Kingdom, pertains to a research project titled "Genetic Drift impact on the Safety of Cell Cultivated Products." The procurement falls under the services category, specifically focused on research and development services within the UK. Initially tendered with an open competition method, the process has now reached the award stage as of 18th November 2025. The contract with Fera Science Limited commenced on 13th November 2025, with an expected completion date of 27th March 2026. The primary aim is to generate data supporting the safe consumption of cell-cultivated products, aligning with the FSA's strategy for ensuring food safety and sustainability from 2022 to 2027. Key dates included an enquiry deadline on 24th September 2025 and a tender submission deadline on 14th October 2025.

This tender provides significant opportunities for businesses specialising in research and development, particularly those engaged in food safety, novel ingredients, and biotechnology sectors. The project is designed to address gaps in understanding genetic drift in cell-cultivated products, thus contributing to advancing regulatory frameworks and consumer safety. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and voluntary, community, and social enterprises (VCSEs) may find this initiative particularly relevant due to its open competition nature and suitability criteria. Businesses equipped with expertise in protein quality, environmental impact assessments, or alternative proteins production can leverage this opportunity to expand their footprint within a burgeoning sector of the food industry.

## Notice

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. Contract start Date:07/11/2025

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Find A Tender Service |
| Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/074810-2025 |
| Notice type | UK7 - Contract Details Notice |
| Procurement type | Standard |
| Procurement category | Services |
| Procurement method | Open |
| Procurement method details | Below threshold - open competition |
| Tender suitability | SME, VCSE |
| Awardee scale | Large |
| All stages | Tender, Award |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 18 Nov 2025 |
| Submission deadline | 14 Oct 2025 |
| Future notice date | Not specified |
| Award date | 12 Nov 2025 |
| Contract period | 13 Nov 2025 - 27 Mar 2026 |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | £50,000 |
| Lots value | £50,000 |
| Awards value | Not specified |
| Contracts value | £42,890 |

## Status

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender status | Complete |
| Lots status | Complete |
| Awards status | Active |
| Contracts status | Active |

## Buyer

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Main buyer | FOOD STANDARDS AGENCY |
| Locality | YORK |
| Post town | York |
| Postcode | YO1 7PR |
| Country | England |
| ITL 1 | TLE Yorkshire and The Humber |
| ITL 2 | TLE2 North Yorkshire |
| ITL 3 | TLE21 York |
| Local authority | York |
| Electoral ward | Guildhall |
| Westminster constituency | York Central |
| Delivery location | Not specified |

## Supplier

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Number of suppliers | 1 |
| Supplier names | FERA SCIENCE |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 73 - Research and development services and related consultancy services

### Codes

- 73000000 - Research and development services and related consultancy services
- 73110000 - Research services
- 73200000 - Research and development consultancy services

## Release History

- 18 Nov 2025 at 14:20 - Award - UK7 - Contract Details Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/074810-2025
- 11 Sep 2025 at 12:30 - Tender - UK4 - Tender Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/055808-2025

## Documents

- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/074810-2025
  18th November 2025 - Contract details notice on Find a Tender
- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/055808-2025
  11th September 2025 - Tender notice on Find a Tender
- https://health-family.force.com/s/Welcome

## Notice URLs

- https://www.food.gov.uk/
- https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/54/contents

## Provenance

This Markdown file is an alternate public rendering of the D3 Tenders contract record. The canonical page is https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-05989b. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-05989b.json.