We could see some US restaurants offering dishes made out of lab grown meat on the menu. Lab grown meat is cultivated meat from a sample of cells collected from live stock. The cells are provided nutrition. They are grown in huge steel vessels called bioreactors. They are processed into something that resembles and tastes like real meat. This sector has raised nearly $2 billion in investments worldwide.

The lab grown meat could become a mass product once it reaches the shelves of supermarkets. The initial resistance of some consumers to try the lab grown meat must be overcome. Singapore is the only country so far which has approved lab grown meat for retail sale.

The US can follow suit. Its FDA has approved a chicken breast product grown by UPSIDE, a California-based foods company as safe for human consumption. UPSIDE expects to bring the product on restaurant menus by 2023, and on grocery stores by 2028.

UPSIDE has still to clear Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service hurdle by getting a sign off from it on its labels. GOOD Meat, another California-based firm has applied for approval to FDA. Mosa Meat and Believer of Meat from Netherlands too are discussing with the Agency.

UPSIDE facility can produce 4 lac pounds of cultivated a meat per annum. It is a small fraction of the 106 billion pounds of meat and poultry produced in the US in 2021.