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If you thought you'd seen it all, buckle up because you haven't. Plant-based meat like Soya Soy has new competition in the market; lab-grown meat.
Yes, you read that correctly.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has just given a safety clearance to lab-grown meat for the first time.
Vegans/ vegetarians must be having a field day following this announcement.
A California-based company identified as Upside Foods will be able to begin selling its products once its facilities have been inspected by the US Department of Agriculture.
Upside foods have been perfecting the art of making meat from cultured chicken cells, and now they have a go-ahead from FDA.
The lab-grown chicken meat is produced by “culturing” cells extracted from live chickens. A method that returns almost unlimited amounts of “product” without the slaughter of other animals.
The agency said it had evaluated the information submitted by Upside Foods and it had “no further questions at this time about the firm’s safety conclusion.”
Previously, lab-grown chicken dishes had only been approved in small-scale experiments.
Celebrating the news a company representative of Upside Foods issued a statement celebrating the green light as they shared looking forward to going international.
“Today we’re one step closer to your tables as Upside Foods becomes the first company in the world to receive a green light from the USFDA – that means the FDA has evaluated our production process and accepts our conclusion that our cultured chicken is safe to eat,” read the statement.
Following the news from FDA, animal rights advocacy group PETA (People for Ethical Treatment of Animals) soon issued a statement supporting FDA’s decision, describing it as the beginning of a new era of meat products without animal slaughter.
Eventually, the new meat could make its way into European stores, if it receives the necessary approvals from EU authorities.
However, the US isn't the first nation to approve lab-grown meat.
Singapore was the first country in the world to approve lab-grown chicken meat products for sale and consumption at prices comparable to conventionally produced meat.
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