The FDA Just Green Lighted Lab Meat in Your Diet

Gorodenkoff / shutterstock.com
Gorodenkoff / shutterstock.com

Trying to eat right? Get ready to read the labels a little closer.

Both the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) have given the nod to Upside Goods and Good Meat to create what they have titled “cultivated chicken” for the public. These cell-based proteins are grown in a giant vat, similar to what a brewery uses to make beer.

Back in mid-June, both companies received their first letters from the USDA, blessing-off on the idea. The “no-questions” letter from the FDA came in previous months for both companies. Good Meat is owned by plant-based egg substitute Eat Just, and has been selling its products in Singapore, and advertising their “food” as “meat without slaughter.” Their goal of a more human way to eat meat is something liberals and vegetarians (as well as their several hundred variations) have spent decades begging for.

Going a step further, Good Meat has been partnered with Washington DC-based chef and restaurateur Jose Andres to bring the meat to market in a restaurant, but the seeds for that idea have yet to sprout into a timetable at this point. According to a company spokesman, they may look at partnering with a different restaurant or simply launching in retail.

Fully clearing the “grant of inspection,” which is issued by the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service on June 21st is a massive deal for the companies. are approved following a rigorous process, which includes assessing a firm’s food safety system,” explained a spokesman for FSIS.

“This announcement that we’re now able to produce and sell cultivated meat in the United States is a major moment for our company, the industry, and the food system,” wrote Josh Tetrick, co-founder, and CEO of Good Meat and Eat Just.

Upside has Bar Crenn, a San Francisco restaurant, signed up to carry their creation, but much like Good Meat, they lack a confirmed launch date. According to reps from the company, they envision Bar Crenn as their launching pad to educate both consumers and chefs about the option of using the lab creation. They plan on partnering with more restaurants and eventually appear on the supermarket shelf.

Approvals like this are incredibly dangerous for the American people. The first lab-created patty happened back in 2013, so 10 years of research into what lab-created meat will do to the human body is not a long time. Like many of the other “green” advancements, this one sounds like yet another idea that not only will people hesitate to adapt, but it won’t be right for a long time.

Even with the safety concerns allegedly addressed, there is also a lot of concern about what this could do to the farming market. As it stands farmers are already having difficulty getting things to market. Between inflated costs, weather that doesn’t cooperate, animals that don’t produce, and a lack of advertising in certain markets, meat farmers are losing their shirts due to PETA and their horrific campaigns.

The American people by and large will not want this product. Meat grown where we should be brewing beet is much like Beyond Beef, it’s a great idea in theory, but horrific in execution. The taste isn’t right, the texture is off, it doesn’t cook the same, and for the American people, the idea of unproven “health” over taste is not one we are willing to embrace. If they want to convince the American people, they’ll need a lot more evidence and some serious taste testing.

Above all else, if the flavor isn’t the same when it’s prepared in various ways, people won’t adapt to it. No matter how low the price is, or how sustainable to find a way to make it. God knows they already did that with the slight against God called tofu.