USA permission for the first time two companies to sell chicken made directly from animal cellsthus paving the way for the consumption of lab-produced meat. The US Department of Agriculture has reviewed and approved labels for Upside Foods and Good Meat, a spokesperson told AFP. The companies added that such chicken meat would soon be available in some restaurants.

Both companies were already authorized in November by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) – which regulates the quality of these products – and the department gave its approval last week. “This approval will fundamentally change the way meat reaches our tableUma Valeti, CEO and founder of Upside Foods, said in a statement. “It is a giant step towards a more sustainable future that preserves choice and life,” he stressed.

Josh Tetrick, CEO of GOOD Meat, Eat Just’s cultured foods division, added: “Since we launched it in Singapore in 2020, we are the only company selling cultured meat anywhere in the world. and now sales to consumers in the world’s largest economy have been approved,” he said. Upon approval, Upside processed its first order, placed by chef Dominique Crenn’s three-Michelin star restaurant Bar Crenn in San Francisco (west).

For its part, GOOD Meat has begun production of its first batch, which will be sold to renowned Spanish chef and philanthropist José Andrés, who will offer the product in an as-yet-unknown restaurant in Washington. Several companies aim to produce so-called lab-generated meat, which people would allow consuming animal proteins without the environmental damage associated with livestock and without animal suffering.

The products differ from vegetable substitutes, such as soy burgers, which mimic the texture and taste of meat but do not contain animal proteins. Eat Just was the first company to receive a license to produce artificial meat in Singapore in 2020.

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While succeeding in the general lab meat market is complicated and expensive, some companies have set their sights on pet foods, whose consumers are less demanding. Colorado start-up Bond Pet Foods makes animal protein from a microbial fermentation process to feed dogs.

Environmentally friendly?

Making meat in a laboratory consists first of all taking cells from a living animal or from a fertilized egg, to generate a cell bank that can be kept frozen for decades. Those cells thrive in steel tanks where they receive nutrients similar to what animals would eat.

Weeks later, the resulting product is “harvested” and formed into chicken tenders. Although this meat is presented as an environmentally friendly alternative, researchers at the University of California at Davis objected in a study published last month, which has not yet been peer-reviewed.

They believed that the environmental impact of the meat produced is likely to be greater, at least for meat, depending on the methods of production. This would be due to the energy required and the greenhouse gases emitted at all stages of production.

One of the most important factors is the use of “purified growth media,” or the ingredients used to help animal cells multiply in methods similar to those used by biotech companies to make drugs.

“If companies need to purify growing media to pharmaceutical level, more resources are used, increasing global warming,” explains lead author Derrick Risner.