Photo: Collected
Once the stuff of science fiction, lab-grown meat could become a reality in some U.S. restaurants as early as this year. Cultured meat company executives are hopeful that meat grown in giant steel vats could be on the menu within months after one company got the go-ahead from a key regulator. In a show of confidence, some of them have signed up high-end chefs like Argentina's Francis Molman and Spaniard Jose Andres to eventually showcase meat in their high-end eateries.
But in reaching its final destination — supermarket shelves — farmed meat faces major hurdles, five executives told Reuters. Companies must attract more funding to increase production, which will enable them to offer beef steaks and chicken breasts at more affordable prices. Along the way, they will overcome a reluctance among some consumers to even try lab-grown meat.
Cultivated meat is derived from a small sample of cells collected from livestock, which is then fed nutrients, grown in enormous steel vessels called bioreactors, and processed into something that looks and tastes like a real cut of meat.
Just one country, Singapore, has so far approved the product for retail sale. But the United States is poised to follow. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said in November that a cultivated meat product - a chicken breast grown by California-based UPSIDE Foods - was safe for human consumption.
UPSIDE is now hoping to bring its product to restaurants as soon as 2023 and to grocery stores by 2028, its executives told Reuters.
UPSIDE still needs to be inspected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service and get a sign-off from the agency on its labels. A USDA FSIS spokesperson declined to comment on its inspection timeline.
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