US declares lab-grown meat safe for consumption in 'groundbreaking' decision

The US government paved the way for Americans to eat lab-grown meat, after authorities ruled a meat product derived from animal cells was safe for human health. human consumption.

The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will allow a California company called Upside Foods to harvest live cells from chickens and then grow them in a controlled laboratory environment to produce a meat product that does not involve the actual slaughter of animals.

The FDA has said it is ready to approve the sale of other lab-grown meats, saying it was "engaged in discussions with several companies to do the same, including companies that want to grow seafood from the cells of sea life.

"The world is experiencing a food revolution and the Food and Drug Administration of the United States is committed to supporting innovation in the food supply,” said Robert Califf, the commissioner of the FDA.

Singapore being currently the only country in which lab-grown meat products are legally sold to consumers, U.S. approval could open the floodgates to a new food market that backers say is more efficient and environmentally friendly than traditional livestock farming.

"We will see this the day the food system really starts to change," said Costa Yiannoulis, managing partner of Synthesis Capital, a private equity fund - risk for food technologies, in Washington Post. "The United States is the first significant market to approve this - it's seismic and groundbreaking."

Upside Foods, formerly known as Memphis Meats, is harvesting cells from animal tissue and then pushes the edible flesh into bioreactors. The company said cultured flesh is identical to conventionally raised meat. type="model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.RichLinkBlockElement" class="dcr-1mfia18"/>

It will be a few more months before lab-grown meat floods US supermarkets - every product will need to be approved by regulators, and Upside Foods has yet to obtain US Department of Agriculture approval for its venture.

It is also uncertain how the consumers will react to the prospect of meat from a lab. The new generation of plant-based meat substitutes like Impossible Burger, have been hailed by many but have not revolutionized the industry.

But the meat industry laboratory is keen to position itself as an environmentally friendly alternative at a time of growing concern about the climate impact of meat production, as well as factory farming and animal welfare issues. p>

There are more than 150 cultured meat companies around the world, backed by billions of dollars in investment, according to the Good Food Institute.

Making food more sustainable is a major focus of the Cop27 climate negotiations, which will soon be completed in Egypt. Global food production is responsible for one-third of all the planet-warming gases emitted by human activity, with the raising of animals for meat responsible for the majority of that. Pastures and croplands occupy about 50% of the planet's habitable land and use about 70% of freshwater supplies.