FDA Approves Lab-Grown Meat for Human Consumption

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved lab-grown meat for the first time. According to CNN Health, Upside Foods, a company from California that manufactures meat from cultured chicken cells, can start selling their products once their facilities are inspected and approved by the Department of Agriculture.

“Advancements in cell culture technology are enabling food developers to use animal cells obtained from livestock, poultry, and seafood in the production of food, with these products expected to be ready for the U.S. market in the near future,” Dr. Robert M. Califf, the FDA’s commissioner of food and drugs and Susan T. Mayne, director of the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN), said in a statement.

Lab-grown meat was first introduced in Singapore in 2020. Advocates of this meat hope it will lower the need to slaughter animals, which can positively impact the climate crisis. 

Currently, about a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide comes from animal agriculture. Cultivated meat will use less water and land than regular meat, so there are high hopes on how it’ll impact climate change. 

The good news is the FDA is ready to work with other firms making cultured cell food.