Tech

A lab-grown meat startup receives FDA approval


Cultured meat has authorized for sale in the United States for the first time. Decisions of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) which means a company called Upside Foods will soon be able to sell chicken made from real animal cells grown in a bioreactor instead of requiring the slaughter of live animals.

The long-awaited FDA decision is an important milestone for the farmed meat industry. Over the past few years, startups in the space have built small scale production facilities and raised billions of dollars in venture capital, but were unable to sell their products to the public. So far, a small number of people invited to try farmed meat have had to sign waivers acknowledging that the products are still being tested.

Various startups are focusing on a variety of farmed meats, including beef, chicken, salmon and tuna. This announcement only applies to Upside Foods and its chickens, although it is likely that other approvals will be made soon. The products have been approved through an FDA process called Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS). Through this process, food manufacturers provide FDA with detailed information about their manufacturing process and the product they make, and once FDA is satisfied that the process is safe, they will give”no other questions” Letters.

The FDA’s decision means that for the first time farm-raised meat products will be offered to the public to try, though it is likely that the tasting will be limited to a very small number of exclusive restaurants. Michelin-starred chef Dominique Crenn has announced that she will be serving Upside Foods’ farm-raised chicken at her Atelier Crenn restaurant in San Francisco.

However, Atelier Crenn won’t be the first restaurant to serve farmed meat. In December 2020, Singapore regulators gave the green light to chickens raised by San Francisco-based startup Eat Just. Chicken nuggets were sold at a members-only restaurant called 1880 and then offered for door-to-door delivery.

Cultured meat is different from plant-based meat because it contains real animal cells and is theoretically indistinguishable from real meat. Cells were initially isolated from animals and grown into cell lines that were then frozen. Small samples from these cell lines can then be transferred to bioreactors—usually large steel tanks—where the cells are provided with a growth medium containing the nutrients that the cells use. cells needed to divide. Once the cells have grown and differentiated into the correct tissue type, they can be harvested and used in cultured meat products.

But growing cells this way is still extremely expensive. The startups keep the exact costs of growing their cells private, but it’s likely that pure farmed meat will still be several times more expensive than conventional meat. Some projections for future facilities suggest that even large facilities will meat production at a cost of $17 a pound — this will lead to much higher prices at restaurants and grocery stores. Because of this high price tag, it is likely that the first farmed meat products to hit the market will be a blend of animal cells and plant-based meat.

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