US approves sale of first lab-grown meat; these companies to sell ‘cultivated’ chicken

US regulators have approved the sale of chicken made from animal cells, allowing two California companies to offer “lab-grown” meat.

Agricultural regulators in the United States on Wednesday approved the production and sale of laboratory-grown meat for the first time in the country. The decision has now given the green light to two California companies to sell chicken made from laboratory cells.

Scientists work in a bioprocess lab at Eat Just in Alameda, Calif., Wednesday, June 14. (AP)

It will likely be years before shoppers can buy lab-produced meat in grocery stores, reported The New York Times. But the recent decision will eventually allow the sale of lab-produced meat across state lines after passing federal inspections.

The historic decision is a milestone for companies growing lab-grown meat. It will also help consumers look for alternatives to chickens bred on a factory farm and slaughtered.

Companies that are allowed to sell ‘cultured’ meat

Upside Foods and Good Meat are the firms allowed to sell meat that is being referred to as “cell-cultivated” or “cultured” as it emerges from the laboratory, reported AFP

“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,” said Josh Tetrick, co-founder and chief executive of Eat Just, which operates Good Meat.

The move will promote a new era of meat production aimed at eliminating harm to animals and drastically reducing the environmental impacts of grazing, growing feed for animals, and animal waste.

What is cultivated meat?

Cultivated meat is grown in steel tanks, using cells that come from a living animal, a fertilized egg, or a special bank of stored cells. In Upside Foods's case, the meat comes out in large sheets that are then formed into shapes like chicken cutlets and sausages. Good Meat, which already sells cultivated meat in Singapore, the first country to allow it, turns masses of chicken cells into cutlets, nuggets, shredded meat, and satays.

(With agency inputs)