FDA Says Lab-Grown Meat is Safe to Eat

Facts

• The US Food and Drug Admin. (FDA) on Wednesday ruled that cell-cultured chicken made from cells of live animals and grown in stainless-steel tanks by UPSIDE Foods is safe to be eaten.¹
• UPSIDE will now work with the US Drug Admin. (USDA) on obtaining the remaining approvals before the chicken can be sold to consumers at a time to be determined.²
• Robert M. Califf, the FDA commissioner, and Susan Mayne, director of the FDA’s Center for Food Safety, issued a statement saying, “The world is experiencing a food revolution and the (FDA) is committed to supporting innovation in the food supply.”¹
• Companies like UPSIDE have been working to make edible cultured meat in order to reduce the slaughter of animals and effects the food system has on climate change. About one quarter of greenhouse gas comes from animal agriculture.³
• Once it has gained approval to sell the chicken, UPSIDE says its California factory will produce around 50k pounds of it a year.⁴

Sources: ¹Reuters, ²TechCrunch, ³CNN and ⁴CBS.

Narratives

• Narrative A, as provided by Daily Mail. Don’t get too excited. This chicken can get all the necessary approvals, but that doesn’t mean consumers are going to adapt their behavior and eat it instead of regular chicken. This could be a fad like the plant-based meats that were all the rage not too long ago, but have become less popular and put their manufacturers in financial trouble.
• Narrative B, as provided by Vox. This technology is totally different than the plant-based meats, starting with the fact that it tastes just like regular chicken. Once consumers taste it, and they realize the benefits it can have to reduce climate change, animal cruelty, antibiotic resistance and zoonotic risk, they’ll buy it in sufficient numbers to make a major difference. FDA approval brings us just one step closer to this.