Authorities in the United States have given the go-ahead for people to consume lab-grown meat after they determined that a beef product made from animal cells was safe for human consumption.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given California’s Upside Foods permission to harvest chicken embryonic stem cells and cultivate them in a lab to create a meat substitute without killing any hens. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said it was “involved in conversations with various businesses” to allow the sale of additional lab-grown meat, such as companies seeking to manufacture seafood from marine life cells.
According to FDA commissioner Robert Califf, the US Food and Drug Administration is dedicated to encouraging innovation in the food supply.
“The world is seeing a food revolution,” he added.
Supporters of lab-grown meat claim it is more efficient and ecologically friendly than conventional cattle production, and its approval in the United States might pave the way for a new food industry. Currently, lab-grown meat products are only legally marketed to customers in Singapore.
According to Costa Yiannoulis, managing partner of Synthesis Capital, a food technology venture capital firm, “we will consider today as the day the food system truly began shifting” in an interview with the Washington Post. “This is a game-changer, and the United States is the first major market to approve it.
Formerly known as Memphis Meats, Upside Foods now extracts cells from animal tissues and develops meat in bioreactors. According to the firm, its produced meat is indistinguishable from that of traditionally reared animals.
The process of getting lab-grown meat into American stores is still going to take a while. Each product has to be authorized by authorities, and Upside Foods still needs the blessing of the US Department of Agriculture.
However, the general public’s reaction to the idea of lab-grown meat is less definite. Many have praised the latest generation of plant-based meat replacements, such as Impossible Burger, but they have not revolutionized the industry.
Climate Effect On Meat
In this day and age of rising concern about the climatic effect of meat production and factory farming and animal welfare concerns, the lab-meat business is eager to market itself as an ecologically friendly alternative.
According to the Good Food Institute, several billion dollars have been invested in more than 150 cultured meat firms throughout the globe.
As the Cop27 climate talks come to an end in Egypt, one of the conference’s main objectives has been the sustainability of agricultural production, which has been one of the conference’s main goals. Global food production accounts for one-third of all the greenhouse gas emissions that are produced by human activity, with most of these emissions being attributed to livestock farmers. About half of the world’s livable land is used for pasture and farming activities, and roughly 70 percent of the world’s freshwater is used for these activities.
Feature image: Pixabay
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