The long-awaited green light removes a significant hurdle for meat produced without the use of animals
Lab-grown beef is getting closer to the grocery store and your dinner plate. On Wednesday, the Food and Drug Administration issued its first-ever rubber stamp to a cultured meat firm. UPSIDE Foods successfully completed the FDA's pre-market consultation procedure, with the agency finding no cause to dispute the company's safety assertions.
Though not officially a "approval process," the FDA's review of UPSIDE essentially amounts to a thumbs up for the company's technology and manufacturing method, which employs small amounts of chicken cells With a growth medium to cultivate huge quantities of meat without the killing.
"We have no questions at this time regarding UPSIDE's conclusion that foods comprised of or containing [its] cultured chicken cell material...are as safe as comparable foods produced by other methods," the FDA said in its letter to the company—a clumsy way of saying,'sure, looks good.'
For years, cultured meat has been touted as a potential answer to the plethora of environmental issues associated with traditional, animal-produced meat. Though some studies have questioned the actual environmental advantages of lab-grown steaks, filets, and drumsticks, the fact is that it's difficult to quantify the relative climate and pollution costs while "meat minus animals" has remained purely theoretical.
Companies in the United States have been seeking for regulator clearance of cultured meat for a long time, but to no success. Without the FDA's approval, no firm has begun mass production of a viable product. There are several environmental factors to consider when calculating the environmental effect of a meal.
Important aspects such as the acreage utilized to cultivate the grains used in cell growth medium and the energy required to run these facilities are major unknowns in the case of cultured meat. There are several estimates available, but it's difficult to evaluate how cultured meat's environmental impact compares to that of factory-farmed cattle until a firm actually navigates those issues and succeeds to earn money.
Singapore became the world's first government to legalize the sale of cultured meat in 2020. Eat Just's chicken was the product in that case. The FDA statement on Wednesday isn't precisely the same thing—one specific product hasn't yet been approved for grocery store shelves. If UPSIDE wants to sell its products in shops, they'll have to deal with more scrutiny from the USDA and the Food Safety and Inspection Service.
Nonetheless, it is one of the most significant moves taken in recent years to get engineered meat from the conference circuit sample tray to actual customers. Over a hundred corporations and start-ups have invested in the premise that lab-grown beef may be the meal of the future, and we may soon find out.
#FDA #LabGrownMeat
SOURCE: gizmodo
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