The United States became the second country, after Singapore, to pave the way for artificial meat on
plates, on Wednesday authorizing the sale of laboratory-grown chicken meat by two companies for the first time.
The US Department of Agriculture has inspected and approved Upside Foods’ and Good Meat’s infrastructure safety systems, a spokesman said.
The Federal Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) has “issued three notices of compliance to establishments manufacturing […] products derived from animal cells”, it said in a statement, with the third going to Joinn Biologics, a company working with Good Meat.
Upside Foods and Good Meat had already received the green light from the US food safety agency (FDA) in November, while the Department of Agriculture last week checked and approved the correctness of the products’ labelling.
“This approval will fundamentally change the way meat lands on our tables,” said Uma Valeti, CEO and founder of Upside Foods, who also hailed “a giant step towards a more sustainable future” in a statement.
Josh Tetrick, co-founder and CEO of Eat Just, the company behind Good Meat, welcomed the fact that lab-grown meat is now “approved for sale in the world’s leading powerhouse”.
His company was the first to receive authorization to market artificial meat in Singapore in 2020.