Cell-cultivated meat processors Upside Foods and Eat Just Inc. reported in separate news releases today (June 21) that they each received grants of inspection from the USDA, opening the door to sale of their cell-cultivated chicken products to American consumers.
The approvals are a milestone for the cultivated meat industry, and they come about a week after each company received label approval for their products (with both companies announcing that approval in separate releases the same day, claiming they were the first company to obtain it).
Upside Foods, formerly Memphis Meats, announced it processed the first order of its cultivated chicken after the approval was granted, in its Berkeley, Calif., Engineering, Production and Innovation Center (EPIC). Upside Foods’ cultivated chicken will launch in the U.S. in limited quantities through select restaurant partners, starting with Chef Dominique Crenn’s restaurant Bar Crenn in San Francisco. The company plans to share details of the launch in a separate announcement.
Eat Just also announced it began production on its Good Meat cultivated chicken at its Alameda, Calif., demonstration facility after the approval, and that Chef José Andrés, owner of José Andrés Group, would launch the item at a yet-to-be-disclosed restaurant in Washington, D.C. Good Meat launched in Singapore in 2020, and the company states it has won multiple regulatory approvals for its chicken in Singapore in 2020, 2021 and 2023.
The Eat Just release also noted the Grant of Inspection applies to its contract manufacturing partner, Joinn Biologics, as well.
