The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has approved lab-grown chicken for sale in the United States.
The cell-cultivated chicken, produced by two California-based food tech companies Upside Food and Good Meat, could forever shift the food landscape as regulators now clear the path for consumers to try it.
Stem cells are placed in a culture medium to grow the chicken meat.
USDA issued approval to two Bay Area companies after the Food and Drug Administration in March cleared cultured chicken cell material as safe for human consumption.
USDA will in future inspect cultured meat facilities similarly to how they do meat processing plants or abattoirs. Good Meat in 2020 received approval to sell its cultured meat in Singapore.
Cultivated chicken is still more expensive that the farmed bird variety but could come down over time. Globally, livestock accounts for a significant portion of greenhouse gas emissions as technology is increasingly seen
as a game-changer in cutting methane emissions to help combat climate change.
