On June 21, 2023, the FDA and the USDA has officially approved the sales of lab-grown meat from California companies, Upside Foods and Good Meats. Lab grown meat is the proccess of re-creating the taste/texture of real animal meat from animal stem cells.
Lab Process: Stem cells or “special stored egg cells” are taken from animal eggs and placed into nutrient bath that helps the cells grow. Those cells are placed into a large device (bioreactors) that grows organisms, where they develop fat and muscle fibers. Then the fibers and fat is shaped into the desired meat such as steak and chicken.
Why is this such a big deal?
Although this procedure is designed to decrease the unethical slaughter/treatment towards animals and have meat become environmental friendly. It has been scientifically proven that since lab grown meat is based off of animal cell culture, it is developed in high tech facilities which is worse for the envirnoment because it has higher production of carbon footprint/energy. It has also been proven that lab grown meat will potentially cause health issues for humans such as autoimmune issues, which is when your immune system mistakenly attacks healthy cells in your body. Interestingly enough, Italy was the first country in the world to ban lab grown meat to protect the health of Italians and to protect the Italian food heritage.