Slabs of chicken meat grown from cells nurtured by scientists, rather than from birds raised and slaughtered by farmers, can now be sold in the United States. The U.S. Department of Agriculture greenlit two kinds of lab-grown chicken for the first time on Wednesday. The move makes the United States the second country in the world, after Singapore, to allow cultivated meats on the market. Although the poultry (or poultry-esque) products — by Upside Foods and Good Meat — won't be on the shelves at your local grocery store anytime soon, the approval marks a milestone for alternative proteins.
The innovative meat, grown from cell cultures fed amino acids, sugars, salts and vitamins, has generated intrigue among investors, animal rights advocates and fancy-food connoisseurs. One of cultivated meat's key selling points, beyond mere novelty, is that it could be a salve for global warming. Growing meat in a lab doesn't involve livestock or land for grazing and cuts out the greenhouse gas emissions associated with raising cows, chickens and pigs for food — 11% to 14.5% of global climate pollution. By some estimates, cultivated meat could reduce those emissions by 92%.
