Key Points
- Two companies have received the final nod to sell lab-grown meat in the US.
- The US joins Singapore in the list of countries that allow cultivated meat.
- Livestock production generates 14.5 per cent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions.
Two companies, Upside Foods and Good Meat, said they have received final US Department of Agriculture approval to sell lab-grown meat, paving the way for the nation's first-ever sales of the product.
With the approvals, the United States will become the second country after Singapore to allow the sale of so-called cultivated meat, which is derived from a sample of livestock cells that are fed and grown in steel vats.
The companies are the first to complete the multi-step US approval process for cultivated meat. The US Food and Drug Administration has already determined that the meat is safe to eat.
"It is a dream come true," said Uma Valeti, CEO of Upside, in an interview. "It marks a new era."
The companies, which both make cultivated chicken, plan to first serve their product at high-end restaurants before scaling production to reach a lower cost for grocery stores.
Upside chicken will first be served at Bar Crenn, a restaurant in San Francisco owned by chef Dominique Crenn, the company said. Good Meat will sell its first batch of chicken to the José Andrés Group, owned by the humanitarian and chef, Good Meat said.
The companies said they are still determining an exact timeline for when the products will hit plates.
Upside said it will soon announce the location of a new US production facility that is 10 to 20 times larger than its existing Emeryville, California, plant.
Cultivated meat companies hope their products will provide an appealing alternative for meat eaters looking for a more environmentally friendly and humane option for their cuts, and who may be unsatisfied with vegetarian products already on the market.
Livestock production generates 14.5 per cent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
The USDA earlier this month issued label approval to both companies. The FDA issued its approvals to Upside in November 2022 and to Good Meat in March 2023.
Eco-friendly? Perhaps not
Lab-grown meat involves first harvesting cells from a living animal or a fertilised egg, to establish a cell bank that can be kept for decades in deep freeze. They are then cultivated in steel tanks where they are fed nutrients similar to what animals would eat.
After several weeks, the resulting product is "harvested" from the tank and modelled into shapes, such as chicken filets or satay.
While lab-grown meat has been billed as an environmentally friendly alternative, researchers from the University of California, Davis pushed back against this assumption in a study out last month, which hasn't yet been peer-reviewed.
A scientist works in a cellular agriculture lab at Eat Just in Alameda, California. Source: AP / Jeff Chiu
This is because of the energy required and greenhouse gasses emitted across all stages of production.
One of the most significant factors is the use of "purified growth media" or the ingredients used to help animal cells multiply, in methods similar to those used by biotechnology firms to make pharmaceuticals.
"If companies are having to purify growth media to pharmaceutical levels, it uses more resources, which then increases global warming potential," said lead author Derrick Risner.
A widely reported 2022 survey of 2,000 US adults by the nonprofit Farm Forward found two-thirds said they would eat cultivated-meat products.
