USA: Lab-grown meat approved for sale for the first time
With this approval, the USA becomes the second country in the world after Singapore to permit the sale of meat cultivated from animal cells.
Lab-grown meat approved in the USA for the first time
For the first time, meat grown in a laboratory may be sold to consumers in the USA. The US federal government has granted two companies permission to offer their chicken meat products.
Both Upside Foods and Good Meat announced that they have received permission from the US Department of Agriculture to produce and sell chicken meat cultivated from a collection of animal cells in large metal containers.
The approval means that the USA is only the second country in the world after Singapore to permit the sale of meat cultivated from animal cells – a breakthrough that the emerging industry touts as being better for animals, which are not harmed in this process, and for the environment.
Fundamentally transformed meat production
Josh Tetrick, CEO of Good Meat, said the approval was a “big moment for our company, the industry and the food system.” Good Meat has been selling its lab-grown chicken meat since 2020 at food stalls, butcher shops and restaurants in Singapore.
The commercial sale of lab-grown meat in the USA will “fundamentally change the way meat comes to the table,” said Uma Valeti, CEO of Upside Foods.
“It is a giant step towards a more sustainable future – a future that preserves choice and life. We are excited to bring our signature, whole-cut Upside Chicken to market and can’t wait for consumers to taste the future.”
Both companies had previously received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration.
The emerging sector for lab-grown meat gained momentum in the United States last year, with a number of start-ups vying for position to challenge plant-based offerings such as the Impossible Burger, which have struggled recently.
The new products are not vegetarian products, but rather meat cultivated in an environment more familiar to the pharmaceutical industry than the food sector. Cells are taken from an animal, such as a cow or a chicken, and then multiplied in bioreactors to produce pieces of meat.
Proponents of the sector claim that it is superior to traditional livestock farming for reasons of animal welfare and the ruinous effects of meat production on the environment (greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation, air and water pollution).
Critics, however, doubt that the specific resources and energy required to produce meat will also have significant impacts.
The market for lab-grown meat is launching quietly in the US initially – Upside's chicken is being introduced at Bar Crenn in San Francisco, while Good Meat's product is initially being sold at an undisclosed restaurant in Washington DC.
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