Ethical Food Production Alternatives

“Advancements in cell culture technology are enabling food developers to use animal cells obtained from livestock, poultry, and seafood in the production of food, with these products expected to be ready for the U.S. market in the near future,”

“The FDA’s goal is to support innovation in food technologies while always maintaining as our first priority the safety of the foods available to U.S. consumers.”

Dr. Robert M. Califf, FDA commissioner of food and drugs -- Susan T. Mayne, director, FDA Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition

 

"We will see this as the day the food system really started changing."

"The U.S. is the first meaningful market that has approved this -- this is seismic and ground-breaking."

"It will have to be case by case, certainly for the first few. It won't be boilerplate approval."

Costa Yiannoulis, managing partner, Synthesis Capital (food technology fund)

UPSIDE Foods’ cultivated chicken made from growing animal cells.

Terry Chea/AP Photo

"[Our cultivated chicken] is one step closer to being on tables everywhere."

"UPSIDE has received our ‘No Questions Letter’ from the FDA."

"They’ve accepted our conclusion that our cultivated chicken is safe to eat."

"These products are not vegan, vegetarian or plant-based – they are real meat, made without the animal."

Upside Foods founder and CEO Uma Valeti

 A California startup is jubilant that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved as safe for human consumption a lab-grown meat product they have produced. In so doing giving its blessing for products derived from animal cells, with no requirement that a living animal be slaughtered. Should production go as planned, the way will be opened for other similar start-ups to commit in the production of lab-grown meats, to introduce them to grocery stores and restaurants in the United States.

There is, in fact, no shortage of major food companies interested in making their own cultivated meat debut to the public. Singapore, as it happens, is as  yet the only country where such products are produced and legally sold to consumers. The entrepreneurial floodgates have been opened by Wednesday's FDA's announcement that Emeryville-based Upside Foods' new product is safe to eat.

Formerly known as Memphis Meats, Upside Foods harvests cells from animal tissue to grow edible flesh under controlled conditions in bioreactors. Its output, says the company, is indistinguishable from meat grown conventionally. These alternatives to traditional animal agriculture are viewed as a mitigation measure in view of climate change. The big question is how enthusiastic a reception the public will give these new foods, whether the ethics involved will be compelling or off-putting.

The industry producing meat alternatives derived from vegetable sources, while initially making a big public relations splash, and now available in supermarkets everywhere, finds itself in the quandary of disappointed expectations. The products have failed to enjoy the wide popularity it was assumed they would attain, and some manufacturers are struggling to surmount public indifference. Simulated-meat product popularity simply failed to materialize.

 

The same technology that Upside is using is transferable to other animal species and each new product must be approved by federal regulators before each can go on the market. On approval from the Agriculture Department, the estimate is that months would be needed before the product could appear on the market. Other cultivated meat startups have sought regulatory approval for years. The current approval may speed up the process.

 

There are currently over 151 companies on six continents eager to kick-start their own cultivated-meat product. This may be an introduction to a wave of the future in suitable, ethically-derived food products. Whether these products can be produced on the scale required to feed populations will be an issue for the future to answer.

Cultured chicken made by Upside Foods is shown. Photo: UPSIDE Foods