FDA raised ‘no questions’ to GOOD Meat lab-grown chicken
GOOD Meat’s chicken — the company makes chicken using cell reproduction — was approved as safe to eat, according to a letter sent by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Monday.
The exact words the FDA used regarding the animal cell product were: “We have no questions at this time regarding GOOD Meat’s conclusion that foods comprised of or containing cultured chicken cell material resulting from the production process defined in CCC 000001 are as safe as comparable foods produced by other methods.”
Related
GOOD Meat’s parent company is Eat Just Inc., a food company that uses science and technology methods to make its own meat, per the company’s website. This eliminates the need for raising and killing animals for consumption.
GOOD Meat’s CEO Josh Tetrick told NPR the company is working with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to receive a grant of inspection and start production in Alameda, California.
Cultivated chicken ingredients
The New York Post said, “Cultivated meat is derived from a small sample of animal cells that are fed nutrients and grown in steel vats before being processed into cuts of meat.”
GOOD Meat’s process for cultivating meat includes:
Finding and selecting quality cells from the best livestock.
Storing in a “cultivator” — a big, metal vessel — to maintain top quality.
Feeding the cells nutrients like amino acids, fats and vitamins.
The company’s website said after four to six weeks, the cells are harvested and “using processes like molding and 3-D printing,” chicken is made.
Related
The Deseret News has previously reported about another company named Upside Foods, which cultivates its own chicken meat in a similar process. According to the Upside Foods website, the company is currently in the process of trying to provide scientifically developed seafood and poultry meats as well.
The FDA is working with companies that “develop cultured animal cell food to ensure safety under the federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. The FDA alone, by the way, will oversee the production of lab-grown seafood, while the other meats require Department of Agriculture involvement, too,” per the Deseret News.
Wired has said the FDA’s approval on lab-grown meats is a milestone, as in the past the companies selling cultivated meats weren’t able to let the public eat without signing a paper acknowledging products were experimental.
Bruce Friedrich, president and founder of the Good Food Institute, said that, “Consumers and future generations deserve the foods they love made more sustainably and in ways that benefit the public good — ways that preserve our land and water, ways that protect our climate and global health,” per NPR.
