French food startup Gourmey has become the first company to apply for EU market access for cultivated or “lab-grown” meat, after it submitted an application for a cell-based duck product to the European Commission on Thursday.

The novel food would be used for foie gras, a traditional dish in France that has garnered increasing criticism over animal welfare concerns. Made from the bloated liver of a force-fed duck or goose, its production has been banned in a dozen EU countries.

“It’s really not about replacing anything, but it’s actually about complementing the current offer,” Nicolas Morin-Forest, CEO of Gourmey, said in an interview with POLITICO. 

“We are a French company and we see this first product as paying tribute to an iconic delicacy of our gastronomy,” he said, noting that Gourmey has also applied for market approval in emerging markets like the U.K. and Switzerland, plus established ones in Singapore and the U.S.A. 

The EU submission kicks off a one-and-a-half to two-year evaluation, consisting of a nine-month risk assessment by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) followed by a seven-month risk management process in which EU countries ultimately vote by qualified majority (at least 55 percent of countries representing 65 percent of the bloc’s population) on whether to allow the product.

If all goes well, Gourmey’s duck product would be available for high-end European chefs by 2026 and on supermarket shelves in the years after. The Paris-based startup, which has raised €65 million from venture investors, is also working on other cultivated meats for the EU market, alongside competitors like Dutch Mosa Meat.

The biggest obstacle will be the incredible politicization of cultivated meats in Europe, with Italy becoming the first country in the world to ban such foods last November. Despite evidence that action violates single market rules, other countries may follow suit, including France, Austria, Hungary and Romania.

Their opposition alone could sink Gourmey’s foie gras, yet Morin-Forest remained upbeat. “There’s a lot of polarization … we need to really have a science-based conversation and public dialogue, nothing that is too ideologically driven,” he said, arguing that novel foods can support food security by nearshoring production and slashing meat’s land, water and climate impact.

“These types of food will be part of the diets of the next years and as a European invention, [with] several European champions, we really need to preserve this technological sovereignty,” he said.

This story has been updated.