Temporarily not sold in supermarkets and other retail stores, cell cultured chicken approved for listing in the United States: currently only sold to restaurant companies | chicken | United States
On the 21st, two American companies were allowed to sell chicken grown from animal cells, marking the first time in the United States. However, currently this artificial chicken is only sold to restaurants and is not currently sold in retail stores such as supermarkets.
According to the Associated Press, the US Department of Agriculture allowed the sale of artificial chicken from two companies, Preferred Foods and Good Meat, on the same day. The products of these two companies have previously been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration as safe for consumption.
Cell cultivation
Both companies emphasize that artificial chicken is meat, not a meat substitute, but is cultivated from animal cells in the laboratory, unlike meat substitutes made from plant protein and other ingredients previously listed in the United States.
Both Optimal Food Company and Good Meat Company are headquartered in California, USA, with production bases of approximately 6500 square meters and over 9000 square meters respectively. Optimal Food Company extracts cells from animals to cultivate artificial meat, while Good Meat Company selects chicken cells from a commercial cell bank as raw materials.
Good Meat Company will place the selected cells in a liquid culture medium containing amino acids, fatty acids, sugars, salts, and other components, and grow and reproduce them in a steel tank. The cultivated large pieces of artificial meat will be cut into various shapes of products.
Preferred food companies cultivate artificial meat using muscle tissue cells and connective tissue cells. About three weeks later, the production personnel took out the entire piece of artificial meat from the steel trough and processed it into different products such as meat patties and sausages. A chef from Preferred Foods uses white wine butter sauce paired with tomatoes, sour beans, and scallions to fry artificial chicken slices. The chicken cooked looks, smells, and tastes just like real chicken, except for a slightly lighter color. Amy Chen, Chief Operating Officer of Optimal Foods, said that people who have tasted artificial chicken generally give feedback that it tastes like chicken.
This is a photo taken on August 23, 2021 at the Food and Drug Administration building in Maryland, USA. Shen Jizhong
Inadequate scale
A recent survey by the Public Affairs Research Center, an American public opinion research institution, showed that half of the surveyed American adults expressed no intention of attempting artificial meat grown from animal cells. Analysts believe that although artificial meat is allowed to go on the market, it is unlikely to become mainstream in the short term.
Preferred Food Company and Good Meat Company have limited initial production. Currently, Optimal Food Company can produce approximately 23 tons of artificial meat per year, with plans to gradually increase production to 181 tons per year. Good Meat Company has not estimated the target production volume. The United States produces approximately 22.7 million tons of chicken annually.
Currently, the two companies plan to supply their partner restaurants separately, one located in San Francisco and the other in the capital city of Washington.
American expert Sebastian Bohn, who studies cell cultured foods, predicts that it will take several more years for cell cultured chicken to enter more restaurants; As for appearing on supermarket shelves, it is estimated to take another 7 to 10 years.
Price is one of the factors affecting the popularity of artificial meat. Currently, artificial chicken is much more expensive than chicken. Both companies did not disclose specific prices, only stating that prices have decreased as orders increased. The Associated Press reports that it is expected that the price of artificial chicken will eventually be on par with high-end organic chicken, priced at around $44 per kilogram. The report states that there are currently over 150 companies worldwide dedicated to cultivating artificial meat using animal cells.
