If it is grown in a test tube and not a cow’s womb, can lab-produced meat still be labelled as authentic meat?
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) have joined forces in trying to solve this question and are turning to members of the public for their opinion in an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPR).
This ANPR concerns the labelling of meat and poultry products produced using animal cell culture technology, including how these products are to be identified and described specifically in regard to their nature, source, or characteristics.
Animal cell culture technology is a process that involves taking a small number of cells from living animals and growing them in a controlled environment to create food, among other things.
Scientists typically start with a sample of cells from the tissue of an animal, some of which are selected, screened, and stored for future use.
Later, some of these stored cells are retrieved and placed in a controlled environment with appropriate nutrients and other factors to support growth and cellular multiplication.
After the cells have multiplied, additional inputs such as growth factors, new surfaces for cell attachment, and additional nutrients are added to the controlled environment to enable the cells to differentiate into various cell types.
Once produced, the harvested cells can be processed, packaged, and marketed in the same, or similar, manner as slaughtered meat and poultry products. This ANPR refers to such foods as “cultured” meat and poultry products or as products compromised of or containing “cultured” animal cells. The use of this term, however, is not intended to establish or suggest nomenclature for labelling purposes.
According to the USDA, many companies, both domestic and foreign, are currently developing cultured products derived from the cells of food animals amenable to the Federal Meat Inspection Act for cattle, sheep, swine, goats, poultry, and fish.
Israel, the USA and China are the world leaders in the production of cultured meat. However, the expensive of production is keeping it from being available to the public.
That said, an Israeli cultured-chicken company and a Chinese cultured-pork producer will probably both be commercially producing their product before 2025.
For more information on the ANPR, go here.
