Groceries
“Start of a new era”: US allows sale of laboratory meat
Chicken cultured by Good Meat. The company and its competitor Upside Foods have received US approval to sell chicken meat grown from animal cells. photo
© Jeff Chiu/AP/dpa
Is this the future of meat production? If it is up to the two companies that are now allowed to bring laboratory meat to the American market: yes.
In the United States, for the first time, lab-grown meat can be sold. The US Department of Agriculture has given final approval to the two Californian companies Upside Foods and Good Meat to sell chicken meat grown from animal cells, the companies announced on Wednesday (local time).
“This announcement that we are now able to produce and sell cultured meat in the United States is an important moment for our company, the industry and the food system,” said Josh Tetrick, co-founder and CEO of Good Meat. So far, laboratory meat has only been approved in Singapore. “Now it’s approved for sale to consumers in the world’s largest economy,” Tetrick said.
It is the beginning of a new era, it said in a statement from Upside Foods. This approval will fundamentally change the way meat comes to our table, said company boss, Uma Valeti, on Twitter.
For the production of meat in the laboratory, stem cells are taken from living animals and end up in a culture fluid made of fats, amino acids, vitamins, minerals and sugars. There they multiply and grow into muscle tissue.
The laboratory chicken meat will initially only be available in restaurants, according to the manufacturers.