For the first time, US regulators have approved the sale of chicken made from animal cells, allowing two California companies to offer “lab-grown” meat on national restaurant tables and eventually onto supermarket shelves.
The Department of Agriculture has given the green light to Upside Foods and Good Meat, companies that vied to be the first in the United States to sell meat that didn’t come from slaughtered animals — what is now referred to as “cell-grown” or “cultured” meat, when it leaves the lab and onto dinner plates.
The move ushers in a new era of meat production which aims to eliminate animals under the illusion of being able to reduce the environmental impact, even if the cultivation of meat in the laboratory does not take place for free from an energy point of view. New Scientist, but we too, have shown that cultured meat emits 25 times more CO2 than naturally reared meat.
The companies have received approval for the federal inspections required to sell meat and poultry in the United States. The action came months after the US Food and Drug Administration deemed both companies’ products safe to eat.
A manufacturing company called Joinn Biologics, which partners with Good Meat, has also been licensed to produce the products.
Cultured meat is grown in steel tanks, using cells from a living animal, a fertilized egg, or a special stored cell bank. In the case of Upside, it is produced in large sheets which are then formed into shapes such as chicken cutlets and sausages. Good Meat, which already sells Singapore-grown meat, the first country to allow it, turns masses of chicken cells into cutlets, nuggets, ground beef and satay.
Cultured chicken is much more expensive than meat from whole farmed birds and still can’t be produced on the scale of traditional meat, said Ricardo San Martin, director of the UC Berkeley’s Alt:Meat laboratory. So its appearance will be very gradual.
The companies plan to serve the new food in high-end restaurants first: Upside has partnered with a San Francisco restaurant called Bar Crenn, while Good Meat’s dishes will be served at a Washington DC restaurant run by chef and owner Jose Andrés.
Company officials are keen to point out that these are meat products, not substitutes like the Impossible Burger or Beyond Meat’s offerings, which are made with plant proteins and other ingredients.
Globally, more than 150 companies are focusing on cell-derived meat — not just chicken, but also pork, lamb, fish and beef, which scientists say has the greatest impact on the environment. For now, however, this product remains a sort of toy for the richest and most spoiled citizens of the world.
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