Good Meat's Lab-Grown Chicken Gets FDA Approval; What Is The Next Step?

Grocery stores and restaurants in the U.S. are one step closer to selling lab-grown chicken, made from animal cells. California-based Good Meat announced it received a "no questions" letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), making its lab-grown chicken product safe to eat and sell in the country.

"We have no questions at this time regarding GOOD Meat's conclusion that foods comprised of or containing cultured chicken cell material [are] as safe as comparable foods produced by other methods," the FDA said in a letter to the company Tuesday, reported NYPost.

Good Meat said, with the FDA letter, it has cleared a crucial step in bringing lab-grown meat to restaurants and retail in the U.S. It "is now working with the US Department of Agriculture on necessary approvals."

After the USDA approval, the company will reportedly look to serve the cultivated meat at 30 restaurants owned by world-renowned chef and Good Meat board member José Andrés across the country.

"The future of our planet depends on how we feed ourselves..pushing the boundaries with technology, building longer tables for everyone to have smarter ways to eat. Excited for you to taste it soon at one of my DC restaurants!" Andrés tweeted.

Companies require approvals from both the FDA and USDA before they can sell cultivated meat products in the country.

Good Meat is the cultivated meat division of plant-based egg maker Eat Just. Its aim is to make "sustainable, safe meat from animal cells instead of slaughtered animals." Cultivated meat is developed from a sample of animal cells by providing them with nutrients and is produced in steel vats before being processed. It can be later harvested and formed into various products.

The latest development comes months after the FDA gave a safety clearance to lab-grown meat developed by Upside Foods. The California-based company received FDA's first regulatory green light to sell cultivated meat, poultry or seafood last November. It was the first company to get FDA approval for cultivated meat.

There is no exact timeline as to when the chicken developed by both Good Meat and Upside Foods will get USDA approval, reported Wall Street Journal.

Good Meat's cell-based chicken received approval for sale in Singapore in 2020. It is now selling around 5,000 pounds of cultivated meat yearly in the city-state.The company claims 70% of Singaporeans who tried cultivated chicken liked it and said it tasted as good as conventional chicken.

"We've been selling chicken without slaughter for over two years now in Singapore, and it's pretty cool that we'll be able to make it happen here at home in the United States," Josh Tetrick, CEO of Good Meat and Eat Just, said in a statement to CNN.