U.S. Approves Sale of Lab-Grown Meat Made From Cultivated Cells

It could still be years before the cultivated meat products hit grocery store shelves.

In a groundbreaking move, the U.S. Department of Agriculture recently authorized the sale of lab-grown "chicken" made from animal cells. And unlike products from brands such as Impossible Burger or Beyond Meat, this chicken is as real as it gets without being hatched from an egg.

Two California-based companies, Upside Foods and Good Meat, were both given approval for federal inspections required to sell meat and poultry in the United States, after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration decided last year that the products were safe for human consumption. Joinn Biologics, a manufacturing company that works with Good Meat, was likewise cleared to start production on meat products made from cultivated cells.

The initial rollout will be limited to exclusive restaurants, with Upside partnering with a restaurant called Bar Crenn in San Francisco and Good Meat serving its products at a Washington, D.C. restaurant run by chef Jose Andrés. Eventually, the products will make their way into grocery stores, but it could take years to ramp up production on that kind of scale. 

For point of reference, the United States produces about 50 billion pounds of chicken per year, while Upside's production facility has the capacity to produce up to 50,000 pounds of cultivated meat products a year. It hopes to eventually reach 400,000 pounds per year.

The goal is to drastically reduce the environmental impacts of livestock farming, and to produce meat that doesn't come from harming animals.

"Instead of all of that land and all of that water that’s used to feed all of these animals that are slaughtered, we can do it in a different way," Josh Tetrick, co-founder and chief executive of Eat Just, which operates Good Meat, told the Associated Press.

It takes about three weeks to "grow" cultivated meat in large steel tanks. Cells are harvested from live animals, and then combined with a "broth-like mixture" that includes elements such as amino acids, fatty acids, sugars, salts, and vitamins that cells need to grow. Once inside the "cultivator" tanks, the cells grow quickly, forming muscle and connective tissue in large sheets.

The sheets of formed poultry cells are then removed from the tanks and made into cutlets, sausages, nuggets, and other types of food. In the case of Good Meat, the chicken product will come pre-cooked and need only be heated up.

And as far as the taste? According to those who have sampled the product, it amazingly is said to "taste like chicken."

Earlier this year, Upside Foods welcomed visitors to its Emeryville, CA manufacturing plant to sample dishes made from the cultivated products, including a chicken "thigh" dish served on a bed of potato puree with a mushroom-vegetable demi-glaze and a smoked chicken salad with mayonnaise, golden raisins, and walnuts.

According to one reporter who was fortunate enough to sample the offerings: "The taste was richer than a chicken breast, more like the dark meat of a thigh. And the texture was both tender and chewy, like a well-cooked chicken thigh should be."

The only drawback is that even when the cultivated products make their way to grocery store shelves, they won't be cheap. The price point is expected to be on par with high-end organic chicken, which can sell for up to $20 per pound.