Upside Foods, a California-based cultivated meat company, has announced that it will be the first tenant at the former Allstate campus in Glenview, Illinois, which is being redeveloped as a logistics center. The company will lease 187,000 square feet of space and plans to begin operations in 2025. Upside Foods, which received approval from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to sell lab-grown meat, will invest $140 million in the facility and create at least 75 new jobs. The Glenview plant will be one of the largest cultivated meat production facilities in the world and will initially produce ground cultivated chicken products.
The US Department of Agriculture has approved the sale of lab-grown chicken produced by Upside Foods and Good Meat. Bar Crenn in San Francisco will be serving cultivated chicken tempura on its menu, becoming the first restaurant to offer the product. Cultivated meat is developed from animal cells and grown in bioreactors, offering a slaughter-free alternative that could appeal to ethical and environmentally conscious consumers. Monthly dinner services featuring cultivated chicken will be available at Bar Crenn later this year, and Good Meat plans to serve its product at José Andrés' restaurant in Washington, DC.
The U.S. Agriculture Department has approved the sale of lab-grown meat from animal cells, marking a significant milestone for the alternative protein industry. California-based companies Upside Foods and Good Meat are the first in the country to receive federal clearance to sell meat cultivated from stem cells. Lab-grown meat is produced by multiplying animal cells in a bioreactor and feeding them a nutrient-rich broth to develop muscle, fat, or connective tissue. While supporters believe it offers environmental benefits and reduces animal suffering, opponents raise concerns about potential risks and labeling.
Upside Foods and Eat Just have received full approvals from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to sell their lab-grown chicken products, following confirmation from the Food and Drug Administration that their cell-cultivated meat is safe for human consumption. While the initial impact on the meat industry may be small, lab-grown meat could potentially compete with plant-based alternatives in the long term. The taste and nutrition of lab-grown meat are said to be similar to traditional meat, and it will be labeled as "cell-cultivated" in stores. While lab-grown meat may appeal to those concerned about animal welfare, it is unlikely to be embraced by vegetarians and vegans who avoid consuming animal products altogether. The potential for lab-grown meat to address world hunger or environmental issues is uncertain, as it is currently geared towards an upscale niche market and the energy and emissions associated with its production are still being evaluated.
The USDA has granted UPSIDE Foods permission to sell its lab-grown poultry to Americans, making it the first company to sell cell-cultured meat in the US. The process involves taking cells from the desired animal and isolating them in a lab, feeding them a blend of minerals, salt, vitamins, sugars, water, and amino acids, and then molding them into the familiar shape of poultry. The product can be seasoned, breaded, fried, and more. At first, the lab-grown chicken will be available in a limited number of restaurants, including chef Dominique Crenn's San Francisco eatery Bar Crenn.
The US Department of Agriculture has ruled that cultured chicken is safe to eat and legal to sell. Two California-based companies, Upside Foods and Good Meat, have received FDA approval for their lab-grown chicken. Upside Foods plans to produce 50,000 pounds of meat per year, while Good Meat is building a demonstration plant in Singapore and plans to build a large-scale facility in the US with an annual production capacity of 30 million pounds of meat. Educating consumers on how cultured meat is made could help overcome skepticism, but the industry still faces challenges related to cost, scalability, and environmental impact.
The US Agriculture Department has approved the sale of chicken made from animal cells, allowing two California companies, Upside Foods and Good Meat, to offer "lab-grown" meat to restaurants and eventually supermarkets. The move aims to eliminate harm to animals and reduce the environmental impacts of traditional meat production. Cultivated meat is grown in steel tanks, using cells that come from a living animal, a fertilized egg, or a special bank of stored cells. However, the cost of cultivated chicken is much higher than meat from whole, farmed birds and cannot yet be produced on the scale of traditional meat.
UPSIDE Foods, a California-based manufacturer, has become the world's first U.S. Department of Agriculture-approved cell-cultivated chicken meat producer and has been fully approved by the U.S. government for commercial sales nationwide. The company, which has received investment from Bill Gates, Richard Branson, and Whole Foods founder John Mackey, will begin cultivation and sales of real chicken meat grown from animal cells in bioreactors. The lab-cultivated meat is being hailed as a possible solution for global warming, inhumane treatment of animals, and growing global hunger. The first availability of the product has not been announced yet.
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has approved the sale of lab-grown meat to the public for the first time. Good Meat and Upside Foods have received approval to begin selling their chicken products commercially. Lab-grown meat is created using cells from living animals, such as a fertilized egg, which is incubated and grown into large masses of meat. The companies plan to roll out their products at partnered restaurants as production costs of the lab-grown meat are far higher than normal butchering, making mass-market sales difficult.
The US Agriculture Department has approved the sale of chicken made from animal cells, allowing two California companies, Upside Foods and Good Meat, to offer "lab-grown" meat to restaurants and eventually supermarkets. The move aims to eliminate harm to animals and reduce the environmental impact of traditional meat production. The companies plan to serve the new food first in exclusive restaurants, as cultivated chicken is much more expensive than meat from whole, farmed birds and cannot yet be produced on the scale of traditional meat.
Good Meat, the cultivated meat unit of Eat Just, has received regulatory clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its production method, making it the second company to receive the "no questions" clearance from the FDA. The company's initial plans are to work with chef José Andrés to sell the company's chicken in one of his Washington, D.C. restaurants. The cultivated meat industry is predicted to reach $25 billion in value by 2030 and is estimated to cut greenhouse gas emissions by up to 96% via less water, land use, and energy over the traditional way of using animals to make meat.
