LOS ANGELES (NewsNation) — Lab-grown chicken, rather than being hatched from eggs, may soon be available at your local restaurant or grocery store.
UPSIDE Foods and GOOD Meat, two California-based companies, are set to launch environmentally-friendly chicken in an effort to reduce animal harm. However, traditional producers argue Americans prefer farm-raised chicken.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have approved the consumption of “cell-cultivated” poultry grown directly from animal cells. It’s the first meat in the nation to be produced this way.
Josh Tetrick, co-founder and CEO of GOOD Meat, expressed his amusement at people constantly asking if lab-grown meat tastes like chicken.
“I like that. That’s my favorite reaction when someone says, it tastes like chicken as if they’re surprised by it,” Tetrick said. “It’s chicken. It’s exactly what it should taste like.”
Yet, Tetrick understands that some Americans have yet to digest the idea of cultivated meat.
The process involves utilizing cells, vials and vats combined with scientific advancements to eliminate the necessity of raising animals solely for slaughter and consumption.
“Every time that we sell meat, we’re losing money, let me start there,” Tetrick said.
The industry anticipates a shift in attitudes and costs over the next five years as production scales up.
While the average American consumes nearly 70 pounds of chicken annually, the scientific labor-intensive production of lab-grown chicken currently results in a cost of well over $100 per pound.
“The cells that we use, that we culture, are derived from an animal. and so as a result, it’s meat,” said Stephen Decker, VP of cell culture operations at GOOD Meat. “We’re not slaughtering the animals, we’re culturing cells so that there’s no slaughter at all.”
In a society filled with processed meat, ethicists highlight that this emerging category of lab-grown meat may raise yet-to-be-known questions and considerations.
“We kind of have this idea that this isn’t the way nature gives us food or whatever, but the problem with that argument or way of looking at it is a lot of the things that we do in regards to producing food aren’t really natural, so to speak,” said Joseph Campisi, an assistant professor of philosophy at Marist College. “The long game is to move to a world in which we’re not using a third of it just to feed the animals we eat.”
Currently, cultivated chicken will be limited to select restaurants.
Producers emphasize the efficiency of lab-growing as it only delivers edible portions without bones or other waste. The next focus will be on developing lab-grown beef and pork.