Lab-Grown Chicken Approved for Sale by U.S. Regulators

As of Wednesday, two startups in the United States have received approval to sell lab-grown or cell-cultured chicken.

The startups, Good Meat and Upside Foods, were approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) months earlier after it was decided the companys’ lab-grown chicken was safe for human consumption.

“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,” the CEO of Eat Just, Good Meat’s parent company, said in a statement.

Cultured meat is created by taking stem cells from the fat or muscle of an animal and putting it into a culture medium that feeds the cells. Then the medium is put into a bioreactor support the cell’s growth. The end product looks and tastes like real meat, per CNBC.

Prior to this decision, cell-cultured meat had only been approved for sale in Singapore.

Several restaurants have already placed an order for the lab-grown chicken and plan to incorporate it into their menus.