Lab-grown chicken safe to eat, say US regulators
A meat product grown in a lab has been cleared for human consumption for the first time.
The US safety agency, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), has given approval for cell-cultured chicken, after doing a “careful evaluation”.
It has been made in steel tanks by the firm Upside Foods, using cells harvested from live animals.
It will be able to be sold to consumers after an inspection by the US Department of Agriculture.
The FDA said it used data and information provided by the company to reach its decision, and had “no further questions at this time”.
The firm’s founder and chief executive Uma Valeti said: “We started Upside amid a world full of skeptics, and today, we’ve made history again as the first company to receive a ‘No Questions Letter’ from the FDA for cultivated meat.”
Upside Foods will have a number of hurdles to clear before it can sell its products – for example, the facility where the product is made will need formal approval – but Mr Valeti called the news “a watershed moment in the history of food”.
Several start-up food companies have been trying to develop similar products, which could lead to big savings in carbon emissions and water, as well as freeing up land for nature.
Scientists say pressures on the planet could fall by more than 80% with such foods, compared with the typical European diet.
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