For the first time, US regulators on Wednesday approved the sale of chicken made from animal cells, allowing two California companies to offer “lab-grown” meat to the nation’s restaurant tables and eventually supermarket shelves.
The Agriculture Department gave the green light to Upside Foods and Good Meats, firms that were rushing to be the first in the US to sell meat that doesn’t come from slaughtered animals—what is now being called “cell-cultivated” or “Cultured” meat leaves the lab and lands on dinner plates.
The move ushered in a new era of meat production that aims to eliminate animal harm and reduce the environmental impacts of grazing, increasing feed for animals and reducing animal waste.
“Instead of all that land and all that water that is used to kill all these animals, we can do it differently,” said Josh Tetrick, co-founder and CEO of Eat Just. good meat
Companies received approval for federal inspections required to sell meat and poultry in the US. The US Food and Drug Administration has recognized that both companies’ products are safe to eat. A manufacturing company called Joinn Biologics, which works with Good Meat, was also approved to make the products.
Cultured meat is grown in steel tanks using cells that come from a live animal, a fertilized egg or a special bank of stored cells. In terms of upside, it is extruded into large sheets that are then formed into shapes such as chicken cutlets and sausages. Good Meat, which already sells cultured meat in Singapore, the first country to allow it, turns masses of chicken cells into cutlets, nuggets, sliced meat and satays.
But don’t look for this novel meat in American grocery stores any time soon. Ricardo San Martin, director of the Alt:Meat Lab at the University of California Berkeley, said cultured chicken is much more expensive than meat from whole, farmed birds and cannot yet be produced at the scale of conventional meat.
The companies plan to serve the new food in specialty restaurants first: Upside has partnered with a San Francisco restaurant called Bar Crane, while a Washington, D.C. restaurant run by chef and owner Jose Andres will serve wholesome meat dishes.
Company executives were quick to note that the products are meat, not alternatives like the Impossible Burger or Beyond Meat, which are made from plant proteins and other ingredients.
Globally, more than 150 companies are focusing on cell-to-meat, not only chicken but also pork, lamb, fish and beef, which scientists say has the biggest impact on the environment.
The Upside, based in Berkeley, operates a 70,000-square-foot building in nearby Emeryville. On a recent Tuesday, visitors entered a gleaming commercial kitchen where chef Jess Weaver was searing a farmed chicken fillet in a white wine butter sauce with tomatoes, capers and green onions.
The prepared chicken breast product was slightly pale in comparison to the grocery store version. Otherwise it looked, cooked, smelled and tasted like any other pan-fried poultry.
“The most common response we get is, ‘Oh, it tastes like chicken,'” said Amy Chen, Upside’s chief operating officer.
Good Meats, based in Alameda, operates a 100,000-square-foot plant, where chef Zack Tyndall prepares a smoked chicken salad on a sunny June afternoon. He then served it with chicken “thighs” on a bed of potato puree with a mushroom-vegetable demi-glace and small purple cauliflower florets. Good meat chicken products will come pre-cooked, requiring only reheating to use in a range of recipes.
Chen acknowledged that many consumers are skeptical, even squeamish, about eating chicken grown from cells.
“We call it the ‘ick factor,'” she said.
That sentiment was echoed in a recent poll by the Associated Press and the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Half of US adults said they are unlikely to try meat grown using cells from animals. When asked to choose from a list of reasons for their reluctance, most said they were unlikely to try it, saying “It sounds weird.” Nearly half said they didn’t think it would be safe.
But once people understand how the meat is made, they are more accepting, Chen said. And once they’ve tasted it, they’re usually sold.
“It’s the meat you’ve always known and loved,” she said.
Cultured meat starts with cells. The experts above take cells from live animals, selected for good taste and to breed quickly and continuously, creating high-quality meat, Chen said. Good meat products are made from a master cell bank derived from a commercially available chicken cell line.
Once the cell lines are selected, they are combined with a broth-like mixture that includes amino acids, fatty acids, sugars, salts, vitamins, and other ingredients that the cells need to grow. Inside tanks, called cultivators, the cells grow, spreading rapidly. Upward, muscle and connective tissue cells grow together, forming larger sheets. After about three weeks, the poultry cell sheets are removed from the tanks and made into cutlets, sausages or other foods. Good meat cells grow into large masses, which take shape in a range of meat products.
Both firms stressed that initial production would be limited. Upside officials said the Emeryville facility can produce up to 50,000 pounds of farmed meat products a year, though the goal is to expand to 400,000 pounds per year. Good meat executives won’t second-guess production targets.
By comparison, the US produces about 50 billion pounds of chicken per year.
It could take another seven to 10 years before consumers see the products in more restaurants and before they hit the wider market, said Sebastian Bon, who specializes in cell-based foods at CRB. , biotech and food companies.
Cost will be another sticking point. Neither Upside nor Good Meat officials disclosed the price of a single chicken cutlet, saying only that it has decreased by orders of magnitude since the firms began offering demonstrations. Eventually, the price is expected to mirror high-end organic chicken, which sells for up to $20 a pound.
San Martin said he worries that cultured meat could become a substitute for conventional meat for the wealthy, but will do little for the environment if it remains a niche product.
“If some high-end or rich people want to eat it instead of chicken, that’s cool,” he said. “Does that mean you’re going to feed chicken to the poor? I honestly don’t see it.”
Tetrick said he shares critics’ concerns about the challenges of creating an affordable, novel meat product for the world. But he stresses that conventional meat production is so damaging to the planet that an alternative is needed — preferably one that doesn’t require giving up meat all together.
“I miss meat,” said Tetrick, who used to eat chicken wings and barbecue in Alabama.
___ The Associated Press Department of Health and Science is supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. AP is solely responsible for all content.
