FDA Clears Lab-Grown Meat As Safe To Eat For The First Time

Over at one food tech lab in California, the chicken or egg conundrum doesn’t matter. The cells of a single chicken are extracted to cultivate meat equivalent to the poultry of hundreds of thousands of traditionally farmed birds.

“Our chicken looks, cooks, and tastes like chicken because it is real chicken,” explains UPSIDE Foods, which is now the first lab-grown meat producer to have its offerings approved as safe to eat by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

In a memo published on Wednesday, the authority said it had “no further questions” that the cell-cultured chicken product is safe for consumption at this time.

According to Reuters, the company harvests its meat products by growing the cells of live animals in stainless-steel tanks.

UPSIDE Foods is among the surge of food tech firms racing to quell a hunger for meat while a fog of greenhouse gas gradually blankets the world. Since no animals will be slaughtered, the process is generally regarded as cruelty-free.

“The world is experiencing a food revolution and the US Food and Drug Administration is committed to supporting innovation in the food supply,” declare FDA Commissioner Robert M. Califf and Susan Mayne, director of the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition.

While the FDA has given lab chicken nuggets its yes, that doesn’t mean the company can start stocking its products on shelves immediately. UPSIDE will need the all-clear from the US Department of Agriculture before taking its offerings to market.

UPSIDE is also the only lab-grown meat producer whose items have been deemed safe to eat by the FDA, though the administration says it is open to looking into similar options by other companies.

Nonetheless, a spokesperson for UPSIDE Foods has hailed the landmark move as “a watershed moment” in food history. The FDA’s stamp of approval brings “delicious meat… grown directly from animal cells” closer to US consumers, the representative adds.

On its website, the company says that it chose chicken as its first protein to develop from the lab, since chicken is “the most consumed meat in the US” and is enjoyed globally. However, UPSIDE doesn’t rule out the possibility of expanding to other meat products.

[via Reuters and CBS News, images via UPSIDE Foods]