The United States is paving the way for the arrival of artificial meat on plates by allowing the sale of chicken meat grown in labs by two companies for the first time on Wednesday.
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The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has reviewed and approved Upside Foods and Good Meat’s security systems, a spokesman told AFP.
Those products will soon be available in certain restaurants, the two companies said.
The two companies had received the green light from the U.S. Food Safety Agency (FDA) back in November, while the Department of Agriculture approved label compliance last week.
“This approval will fundamentally change the way meat ends up on our tables,” said Uma Valeti, CEO and founder of Upside Foods, who also welcomed “a giant step towards a more sustainable future” in a press release.
Josh Tetrick, co-founder and CEO of Eat Just, the company behind Good Meat, was pleased that lab-grown meat is now “cleared for sale in the world’s leading power”.
His company became the first company to receive permission to market artificial meat in Singapore in 2020.
Last May, Eat Just signed an agreement with an equipment manufacturer to develop giant tanks in which the company would produce chicken and beef on a large scale.
As part of the US approval, Upside Foods received its first order from Michelin-starred French chef Dominique Crenn’s San Francisco restaurant.
Celebrity chef José Andrés is expected to get him the first American portion from the Good Meat company, which will be served at one of his restaurants in the capital, Washington.
Ecological damage
Many start-ups aim to produce and market so-called “laboratory” or artificial meat to enable people to consume animal protein with less impact on the environment than intensive farming and without animal suffering.
These products differ from plant-based substitutes such as soy-based “steaks” and other ingredients that mimic the texture and flavor of meat but contain no animal protein.
But the production of laboratory meat is currently still very complicated and very expensive. Other companies have therefore turned to the pet food market, which is inherently less difficult to satisfy than its owners.
Bond Pet Foods, a Colorado start-up, uses a microbial fermentation process to make animal protein to feed dogs without killing cows or chickens.
In the production of artificial chicken meat, cells obtained from an animal or fertilized chicken eggs are cultured in bioreactors and fed nutrients similar to those consumed by real animals: proteins, fats, sugars, minerals and vitamins.
Thanks to these nutrients, the cells, like in the animal’s body, grow and become muscle tissue and fat. The resulting product is then “harvested” from the vats and formed into certain predefined shapes, such as that of a chicken fillet.
However, questions remain about the real impact of this alternative on the environment, particularly its energy use and health safety.
A recent study from the University of California, Davis, which has not yet been reviewed by other scientists, showed that all stages of laboratory meat production require a lot of energy and emit large amounts of greenhouse gases.