The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has endorsed human consumption of meat made from laboratory-grown animal cells.
Specifically, the FDA has given its go-ahead for the use of products from UPSIDE Foods, a US company that makes its meat using animal cell culture technology to take live cells from chickens and grow them in a controlled environment.
"The world is experiencing a food revolution and the FDA is committed to supporting innovation in the food supply," FDA Commissioner Robert M. Califf and Director of the Center for Food Safety said in a statement. and FDA Applied Nutrition, Susan Mayne.
UPSIDE Foods has become the first company in the world to receive the green light from a regulatory agency, meaning it has approved the production process and confirmed that its farmed chicken is safe to eat.
"I had been waiting for this day for a long time. They have accepted our conclusion that our farmed chicken is safe to eat, which means UPSIDE is one step closer to being on tables around the world," said the CEO of UPSIDE. Foods, Uma Valeti, on her 'Twitter' account.
The FDA study included an evaluation of the company's production process and the cultured cell material manufactured by the production process, including the establishment of cell lines and cell banks, manufacturing controls, and all components and supplies.
In addition to meeting FDA requirements, including facility registration for the cell culture portion of the process, the business will need an inspection grant from the United States Department of Agriculture, Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA-FSIS, for its acronym in English) for the manufacture of the product.
The food itself requires a USDA-FSIS mark of inspection before it can enter the US market. The FDA has advanced that, as the entry of this product into the US market approaches, it will ensure that "it is properly regulated and labeled."
These animal cell meat products, however, are not yet formally approved by the FDA. "The pre-market voluntary consultation is not an approval process. Instead, it means that after our careful evaluation of the data and information shared by the company, we have no further questions at this time about the safety conclusion of the company", details the US regulatory body.
The FDA has also opened the door to study other similar meat products: "We are willing to work with other companies that develop foods with cultured animal cells and production processes to ensure that their foods are safe and legal."
In fact, he has acknowledged that he has already "engaged in discussions with several companies about various types of foods made from cultured animal cells, including foods made from shellfish cells that will be exclusively overseen by the FDA."
In any case, he recalled that "human food made with cultured animal cells must meet the same strict requirements, including safety, as other foods."
