The Food and Drug Administration (FDA, equivalent to Anvisa in the United States) has, for the first time, approved meat grown from cells and without killing animals as safe for human consumption. The analysis was from the cultured chicken product from Upside Foods of California.
“The FDA is committed to supporting innovation in the food supply,” the US agency said in a statement. FDA approval is expected to boost the cultured meat industry.
In practice, Upside Foods still has many hurdles to overcome, including inspections from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, before it can sell its products.
For the president of the Good Food Institute, Bruce Friedrich, a nonprofit think tank focused on the uptake of cultured and plantbased meats, FDA approval is a milestone for the future of nutrition.
“Cultivated meat will soon be available to US consumers who want their favorite foods to be produced more sustainably, with production that requires a fraction of the land and water of conventional meat when produced at scale,” he said .
One of the biggest environmental criticisms of livestock is the amount of methane gas emitted by livestock.
Methane levels, one of those responsible for the greenhouse effect, have reached record levels, according to UN (United Nations) reports released this month. Strategies to reduce this pollution were discussed at the COP27 (Climate Summit) in Sharm elSheikh, Egypt.
Upside Foods competitor Eat Just became the first company to receive approval to market artificial meat in Singapore in 2020.
In May this year, it struck a deal with an equipment manufacturer to develop giant tanks in which it intends to produce chicken and beef on a large scale.
While they hope to be able to serve lab meat to humans which is still very complicated and expensive other companies want to conquer the pet food market, which a priori is less difficult to satisfy than their owners.
In countries like the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain, several initiatives are also trying to produce cellreared meat to meet demand from consumers who reject the idea of sacrificing animals for food.
Copyright © Estao. All rights reserved.