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The Department of Agriculture approved the production and sale of lab-grown meat for the first time in historypaving the way for two California companies to sell chicken produced from animal cells.
Specifically, the Department of Agriculture gave the green light to the companies Upside Foods and Good Meat, both from California, to be subjected to federal inspections that allow the sale of meat and poultry in the US.
Months ago, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has already declared that the products of the two companies are safe for consumption, although according to the US media, it may still be years before consumers find this type of meat in stores.
However, the government’s decision will eventually allow the sale of lab-produced meat across state lines after passing federal inspections.
The decision is a milestone for companies that make cell-cultured meat, along with consumers looking for alternatives to factory-farmed and slaughtered chickens.
Supporters of alternative proteins along with the companies that sought federal approval, Upside Foods and Good Meat, hailed the news as pivotal for the meat industry and the broader food system at a time of growing concern about the environmental impact of production. of meat and its treatment of animals.
According to The New York Times, the companies plan to partner with upscale restaurants to offer their products, which are much more expensive to manufacture than traditional chicken.
The two Californian companies welcomed the decision and assured that meat produced in laboratories will help create a more sustainable food industry.
“Instead of all that land and that water being used to feed all those animals that are then slaughtered, we can do things differently,” the chief executive of Eat Just, the company that operates Good Meat.
The company’s products can already be found in Singapore, the first country to allow the sale of meat created in laboratories.