Cultivated Meat Takes Another Step Toward Entering the Market

GOOD Meat, a company that grows chicken and other meat from animal cells without slaughtering animals, has cleared a significant safety hurdle from the Food andDrug Administration (FDA).

By Milo Runkle

The FDA issued a "no questions" letter as part of its pre-market consultation, indicating that the agency agrees with GOOD Meat's conclusion that its cultivated chicken is safe to consume. This decision is a massive win for GOOD Meat, which is now working with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to obtain a grant of inspection to operate its production facility in Alameda,California.

This milestone means that the company is one step closer to selling its products in the U.S.

But what does this mean for the food industry and our future? As more than 80companies stake a future in this space, the FDA and USDA have been working together to ensure that cultivated meats entering the U.S. market are safe and correctly labeled. This process is not only about meeting safety requirements, but it's also about transforming the food system as we know it.

According to Bruce Friedrich, president and founder of the Good Food Institute, this decision is "food system transformation in action." Consumers and future generations deserve to have access to foods they love made more sustainably and in ways that benefit the public good. This method preserves our land and water, protects our climate and global health, and supports a more ethical and sustainable way of consuming meat.

Moreover, GOOD Meat's production facility looks like a brewery, filled with big, shiny, stainless-steel tanks. The meat grows inside the tanks on trays, and after it comes out, it's molded into shapes such as nuggets or fillets. The process is similar to yeast fermentation, where nutrients are added to the cells, and they start to proliferate and grow.

What's more, the company has been selling its chicken in Singapore since 2020, and celebrity chef José Andrés has agreed to offer GOOD Meat's chicken to his customers at one of his restaurants in Washington, D.C. This decision speaks volumes about the future of food, where ethical and sustainable food practices are becoming increasingly important.

GOOD Meat's success is not alone in this field, as another company, UPSIDEFoods, also produces meat from cells and awaits a mark of inspection from theUSDA. Their facility is full of glass walls, signaling transparency in the process.

Overall, these developments mark an exciting shift in the food industry, where ethical and sustainable food practices are becoming increasingly important.With GOOD Meat and UPSIDE Foods leading the way in cultivating meat, we can expect to see more innovative approaches to the production of our food in the coming years.