USDA Approves First Lab-Grown Meat in U.S., But Scientists, Food Safety Experts Aren’t Sold on It
The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Wednesday approved the sale of lab-grown meat for the first time, giving two California-based food technology startups the green light to sell chicken grown in a lab from animal cells.
June 23, 2023 | Source: The Defender | by Brenda Baletti, Ph.D.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on Wednesday approved the sale of lab-grown meat for the first time, giving two California-based food technology startups the green light to sell chicken grown in a lab from animal cells, The Associated Press (AP) reported.
The approval granted to Upside Foods and Good Meat — the first two companies to go through the regulatory approval process — makes the U.S. the second country in the world, behind Singapore, to allow sales of lab-grown or so-called “cultivated” meat.
The meat is made from cells from a living animal, a fertilized egg or a “special bank of stored cells” and cultivated in steel tanks. Over a series of weeks, it grows into sheets or masses, depending on the company, of muscle and connective tissue that are then formed into the shape of chicken cutlets and sausages, and cooked as food.