(CMR) The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has approved the sale of cell-cultured or lab-grown chicken produced by growing cells extracted from an animal's body.
GOOD Meat, a division of Eat Just, Inc., announced that it has received approval from the USDA for its first poultry product, cultivated chicken, to be sold in the US.
“This announcement that we're now able to produce and sell cultivated meat in the United States is a major moment for our company, the industry, and the food system, ” said Josh Tetrick, co-founder and CEO of GOOD Meat and Eat Just.
GOOD Meat already sells its cultivated chicken in Singapore, which is the first country to allow commercial sales of cultivated meat.
The USDA has also cleared the sale of UPSIDE Food's cultivated chicken, a move that CEO Uma Valeti said is historic.
According to Good Food Institute, cultured meat, also known as cultivated, cell-based or lab-grown protein, is genuine animal meat (including seafood and organ meats) that is produced by cultivating animal cells directly. This production method eliminates the need to raise and farm animals for food. Cultivated meat is made of the same cell types that can be arranged in the same or similar structure as animal tissues, thus replicating the sensory and nutritional profiles of conventional meat.
The manufacturing process begins with acquiring and banking stem cells from an animal. These cells are then grown in bioreactors (known colloquially as cultivators) at high densities and volumes. Similar to what happens inside an animal’s body, the cells are fed an oxygen-rich cell culture medium made up of basic nutrients such as amino acids, glucose, vitamins, and inorganic salts and supplemented with growth factors and other proteins.
Proponents of cultured meat say it’s healthier and more environmentally friendly than traditional meat.
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