California-based food tech startups UPSIDE Foods and GOOD Meat have been fully approved by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to commercially sell cultivated chicken in the United States, making the U.S. the second country to legalize the product. Both companies previously received label approval from the USDA and a green light from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
“This announcement forever changes the way we think about meat.” - Lorena Mucke, CEO and Founder of Educated Choices Program
"Today's historic announcement — two American companies earning regulatory approval to bring cultivated meat to U.S. consumers — marks a pivotal moment in food and agriculture." - Bruce Friedrich, president of the Good Food Institute
GOOD Meat, a division of Eat Just, Inc, has had regulatory approval to sell its cultivated chicken in Singapore since 2021. The product won several awards, and consumer research found that 70% of Singaporeans who tried it said it tasted as good or better than conventional chicken. Nearly 90% of those diners said they would substitute conventional chicken with cultivated chicken. GOOD Meat is building ten of the world’s largest bioreactors in the United States. These bioreactors are expected to be operational in 2024 and capable of supplying tens of thousands of restaurants and shops with cultivated beef and chicken each year.
UPSIDE Foods was the first cultivated meat company to receive a green light from the FDA for it’s cultivated chicken. The company has achieved additional milestones in recent years in raising a historic $400 million in Series C funding and opening the doors to Engineering, Production, and Innovation Center (EPIC), the world’s most advanced cultivated meat production facility. This facility is powered entirely by renewable energy and is open to the public for tours.
Read more about the importance of these approvals in this blog post by Educated Choices Program CEO and Founder Lorena Mucke.
Image Credit: WhatIsCultivatedMeat.com, UPSIDE Foods, GOOD Meat