The US Food and Drug Administration approves meat products grown from animal cells in laboratories for the first time.
The cultured meat was determined safe for consumption by the FDA on Wednesday after UPSIDE Foods completed the pre-market consultation process.
The Agency Found No Threats In Eating the Lab-Grown Meat As Of Now
After a thorough assessment, the food company UPSIDE Foods gets the FDA's stamp of approval for their technology and method of producing chicken meat.
UPSIDE Foods, through the help of laboratories, generates meat from small amounts of chicken cells and a growth medium to culture large amounts of meat without any slaughter.
"We have no questions at this time regarding UPSIDE's conclusion that foods comprised of or containing cultured chicken cell material...are as safe as comparable foods produced by other methods," the FDA says.
According to Gizmodo, lab-grown meat has been looked at for years as a potential solution for the environmental consequences of standard, animal-made meat.
Studies have questioned the need to culture meat and how it can help the environment, as the climate remains relatively hard to measure, which is why cultured meat was never actualized.
However, this is not for the lack of trying as companies have always been seeking the FDA's green light to produce lab-grown products in the US.
But, the agency did not approve of any method or product until now since there were a lot of environmental, and ethical considerations involved in the decision-making.
The food's impact on the environment and on the communities needed to be studied, and in the case of cultured meat, the land used to grow the grains included in the cell growth is considered.
The FDA also questions how much energy is needed to run the labs and facilities to produce cultured meat, and just how its environmental footprint compares to factory-farmed livestock.
Read More: How Technology is Making Meat Processing as Efficient as Possible
The Lab-Grown Meat Is Not Quite Ready To Hit The Markets Yet
With the thumbs up given to UPSIDE Foods and its lab-grown meat, the US might follow Singapore which was the first country to ever approve the sale of cultured meat.
Gizmodo writes that while the food company already got initial approval from the FDA, the agency iterates that UPSIDE Foods will still need to go through Safety and Inspection Service before selling.
CBS News reports that although the FDA determined the cultured chicken meat safe to eat, it is still pending approval to be sold in markets.
"As this product comes closer to entering the U.S. market, we are closely coordinating with USDA-FSIS to ensure it is properly regulated and labeled," the FDA claims.
Once UPSIDE Foods get the regulatory approval for its lab-grown meat, it can cultivate its products and produce more than 50,000 pounds of cultured meat per year.
This might help cut back on the US methane emissions to fight global warming since a third of human-produced greenhouse gases come from food production, according to CBS News.
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