U.S. regulators have approved the nation’s first lab-grown meat for sale—chicken products grown from animal cells.
The U.S. Agriculture Department (USDA) on Wednesday gave the OK for two California companies to sell their chicken products to restaurants, and eventually, supermarkets.
Startups Upside Foods, formerly known as Memphis Meats, and Good Meat, a subsidiary of Eat Just Inc., made announcements of their USDA approvals on Wednesday.
The USDA decisions mean that from now on, the agency will inspect the companies’ cultured meat facilities, just as it already does for regular meat processing plants.
The two companies plan to serve the new food first in exclusive restaurants. Upside Foods has partnered with a San Francisco restaurant called Bar Crenn, while Good Meat dishes will be served at a Washington, D.C., restaurant run by chef and owner Jose Andrés….