The first cultivated meat is approved for sale in the US

Looks like only available in one restaurant for now, but it's a start.

"For one thing, cultivated meat is not vegan or vegetarian." -> I know some vegans who would disagree with that, on the grounds that no animal cruelty or slaughter is involved. I suspect there will be a fair bit of debate on this as cultivated meat becomes more widespread. I would guess just like we've already got "I'm a vegetarian who eats fish" we'll end up with "I'm a vegan who does/doesn't eat cultivated meat."

You might want to cross-post this to !food too.

I know some vegans who would disagree with that
I definitely would!
Usually, the reason people go vegan is to try to reduce (hopefully eliminate) animal suffering, and/or to reduce green house gas emissions from animal farming.
Cultivated meat deals with the first, and, depending on how it's produced, can probably entirely avoid the second as well.
I don't know the process in detail, but I would also imagine that cultivated meat is no more sourced from animals than a plant that was fertilized with animal dung, and that would still be considered vegan.
- There are some analyses out there that suggest cultivated meat will actually be worse for the climate than animals - for example https://www.ucdavis.edu/food/news/lab-grown-meat-carbon-footprint-worse-beef
  Of course the cultivated meat startups disagree: https://www.npr.org/2022/11/21/1138371310/a-taste-of-lab-grown-meat
- They biopsy live animals to get the cells to grow meat, so I am sure many vegans will object -- but the labs theoretically never need to get more cells. The question becomes whether they do or not and how the source livestock is treated. Do they just sell the source animals to a slaughterhouse? Or do they donate them to a petting zoo? They are unlikely to tell the public.
  I noticed the post's link is PR from the Upside company website. GOOD Meat is another provider. Here is an NPR link with a bit less sensationalism: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/06/21/1183484892/no-kill-meat-grown-from-animal-cells-is-now-approved-for-sale-in-the-u-s
I'm not vegan, but I do keep Kosher and I'm sure there would be a huge debate in the Jewish community as to whether cultured meat was kosher.
Assuming that the animal that the original cells were taken from was Kosher (e.g. a chicken or a cow, not a pig), then would the cultured meat be Kosher? Would it not need to follow usual processes (specific slaughter techniques, salting and soaking the meat to remove blood, etc) if there was no animal/blood?
As cultured meat takes hold, there are going to be a lot of communities trying to take it into account. I'm sure there will be plenty of arguments as to the status of it as well. It should be interesting.
- Looks like it's already under discussion (not surprising given that some of the cultured meat companies are in Israel: https://time.com/6251154/lab-grown-meat-kosher-israel-rabbi/ https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/2293219/jewish/Is-Lab-Grown-Meat-Kosher.htm
I know at least one person that has preemptively rejected cultivated meat because it requires the death of an animal.
Even though they know that a single animal's death could then spare uncountable billions of future animals.
... does that make the chicken sampled for cultivation Chicken Jesus?
- If you're going to start rejecting things because even one animal died in the process of making them, you'd have to say goodbye to much of modern medicine too.
- I don't think that cultivated meat technically requires the death of an animal at all.
If the vegan is there for ethics then cultivated meat should be all good. More ethical than cheese or leather anyway.
Maybe some will complain about the source of the starter cells or something.
- Yes, there ain't much to complain except for health. After all, vegan isn't a diet, it is an ideology and if meat was the only healthy option, then it would be vegan to sometimes eat animal products and use products that caused harm to animal. In fact, I doubt there is such a thing as a totally vegan as the world is quite harsh. Because veganism is about minimising harm. Anyway, back to the diet, vegans generally believe that meat isn't a necessity for humans thus making this lab meat potentialy unhealthy (according to that belief).
- Speaking just for myself, I'll be giving cultivated meat a pass. Not because I'm a vegan, but because I avoid ultraprocessed foods and venture capitalism as much as possible.
I remember reading about cultivated meat using fetal bovine serum, so I’m wondering if Upside managed to take out a reliance on livestock for its process
- There is no real way to scale production without eliminating fetal bovine serum.
As far as I read recently, currently the liquid to provide the cells with nutrition is gathered from slaughtering cattle. I couldn't find the link, will keep looking, but if anyone has information to the contrary, I'd be happy. I love the idea of meat-taste without animal cruelty and I think it is the way we have to go if we as a species want to survive.
EDIT: https://gemeinsam-gegen-die-tierindustrie.org/en/clean-meat-the-solution-to-the-problems/
In any case, it is important to bear in mind that the production process regularly relies on fresh muscle tissue and continuously on growth serum.
The growth serum is usually obtained from the heart of a calf embryo, for which the calves and sometimes the mother cow are slaughtered.9b Some companies state that they have replaced the calf serum with an algae nutrient solution.10 It also remains to be seen whether this alternative will prevail.
As the domain name already suggests ("Together against animal industries"), this article seems heavily biased, however. If tissue of a calf embryo is required for the serum, that's not a calf, but an embryo, which is slaughtered. Just like abortion is not murder.
Nevertheless, I hope the mentioned algea nutrition solution will prove a viable alternative.
- https://upsidefoods.com/blog/animal-component-free-upsides-cell-feed-breakthrough-levels-up-the-future-of-cultivated-meat
  This is apparently from one of the companys that Works on cultivated meat.
  According to them, they got the animal cell free nutrition working. And use it for their production.
  Since its from the company directly, You should take it with just as much of a grain of salt as the other article.
  But, they have a very convincing argument:
  The bovine cells are the most expensive part of the production, and using them for production purposes would be prohibitly expensive.
  As cynical as that take is, to me thats the best argument that animal cell free meat will be the rule instead of an exception for cultured meat.

It’s pretty typical for a new product’s development to be inefficient until the processes are scaled, I wouldn’t read into it too much at the moment. Process improvements are happening at a ridiculously quick rate in this field; we’re talking on a weekly to monthly basis.

Keep in mind, too, that animal ag has a lot more money behind it than these folks, and similar to the oil companies they’re going to be spending buckets to slow the transition.

This is awesome! I had no idea lab grown meat was so close to being viable. I currently eat meat (with some guilt), and I can't wait to get to the point where I can eat more ethically

agreed, regardless of whether or not it's ethical to raise animals for meat, the way we currently do it is an eldritch abomination where "cage free" chicken are kept so tightly packed they will peck each other to death unless debeaked, and where "cut from neighbors knife" is a common injury report at slaughterhouses.
Yeah I've been about 50/50 with plant based beef and chicken. I'm extremely excited for this. Might be the final nail in the coffin for Big Meat

Great news. I think we're still not quite there yet with cultivated meat, but it has great promise. Cultivated meat has the potential to be cheaper, far more environmentally friendly, obviously more ethical, and maybe even healthier. I hope it reaches full scale production with all these benefits in my lifetime.

Hopefully, while not being harmful.
- I can’t imagine it would be worse than traditional meat - no antibiotics, bits of bone, disease, etc. Bacterial contamination is the only concern I can think of, but that affects every category of food.
- I can’t imagine it would be worse than traditional meat - no antibiotics, bits of bone, disease, etc. Bacterial contamination is the only concern I can think of, but that affects every category of food.

This is great news.

I hope as it becomes more viable, more data will be published on whether it's worse or better for the environment, but purely from the ethical standpoint, I'm looking forward to it. We need to put an end to industrial animal farming.

I have good feeling for the effects on environment tbh, because it changes a lot of ethical and environmental concerns. Some of them will definitely be gone for good.

I am very curious what price they can get this to. If traditional chicken breast is $11 a pound and this is $20, it’s going to be rough. If it’s around the same or cheaper, it could do very well!

I'm sure that it will initially cost a premium, before coming down in price as the technology matures. I'm also curious about the relative environmental impact that cultivated meat has versus raising livestock.
ETA: I found a study regarding cultured meat's environmental impact: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/es200130u
According to this study, cultured meat is 7-45% more energy efficient, emits 78-96% less CO2, requires 82-96% less water, and occupies 99% less land than raising livestock.
- Dang, I figured CO2 emissions would be much better than traditional livestock but I wouldn't have guessed that much better.
- Thanks for this great info
- I was wondering that too. It sounds like a promising technology.
- Are these estimates at scale?
for fast-food purposes, the plant-based meats (Impossible, Beyond Meat) were generally able to get in the door at parity with ordinary meat from what i can tell. i'm not sure about in-grocery-store, though. they've also been racked by waning consumer interest, probably because they seem "faddish" for lack of better wording. that, i honestly think, is the biggest hurdle to cultivated meat--not price.
- I buy Beyond Meat bricks for $8.99 a pound. That's pricey compared to regular beef, but I'm an outlier with pricing. I keep kosher at home and kosher meat is VERY expensive. Between the price and hassle (it requires separate pots/pans, plates, utensils, etc), I keep vegetarian at home. It's just cheaper and easier.
  Beyond Meat lets me cook "beef" dishes for less than kosher beef would cost me and with more flexibility. (Tonight, we had pasta and Beyond Beef meatballs with cheese - a dish I couldn't make using kosher meat.)
  There's still a market for products like Beyond Beef, but I agree that they'll need to hit "normal need" price levels before it really takes off.
Where is chicken breast $11 a pound? That's like pasture raised organic prices where I am in the US.
- I just looked at what ShopRite said 🤷

So they say the meat is 99% chicken cell, does anyone know what the 1% is? I'd just feel better knowing.

I don't know, and maybe I shouldn't comment, but my first thought was that it might be some sort of edible lattice that makes sure the chicken cells grow in a shape that looks vaguely filet-like.
- Cant wait for the bacon lattice for my sandwich
Typically that's more of a CYA move. If someone finds something that isn't chicken cell they could sue for false advertising, but if it's 100% chicken cell nobody can sue for saying it was 99%.
- I was digging into this question and only found that it might be leftovers of whatever they feed the cells (which also no longer includes anything from live or harvested animals, which is cool). CYA covers that and so much more so I think you're right.

as an omnivore dating a vegetarian who doesn't eat meat for ethical reasons i am so, so excited!!!!

This is super exciting! Been waiting a long time for this

This is a huge a step forward!

I'm very interested to learn what combination of cells they used to hit certain flavors and how they developed the right network of cells to make the right texture. Is there a 'grain'? Will there be dark meat and white meat? So many questions! Can't wait to see if they end up making pulled pork down the road, haha.

That's cool! If I saw this in my supermarket I'd def try it.

This is amazing! I can not wait to eat more ethically.

I get this is positive, but it saddens me to hear people comment now I can start eating more ethically. There have always been vegan options available. They have been there this whole time, this is merely another option out there, the majority of people will still prefer the "real thing".

The only victim the in the situation is the Animals, their gauntlet of suffering from our hands must come to an end.

For someone like me, there honestly aren't many options. I'm allergic to soy, which eliminates a LOT of vegan meat alternatives. I do mostly eat the options I can have rather than eating meat, but a lot of these options are relatively new and have most certainly not "been there this whole time".
- Rice, Beans, Fruits, Vegetables, Seeds, Grains, Nuts, Berries. Eat a variety of those and no animals need to die. There are plenty of vegans with Soy allergies. https://www.livekindly.com/9-vegan-proteins-to-eat-when-youre-allergic-to-soy/
  I hope that is helpful, and my sentiment is not to gaslight anybody with dietary restrictions. There is a TON of money being spent to ensure people stay uneducated on what foods are actually healthy to eat.
We can rail forever about how vegetarian and vegan options have been available to the majority for quite a while now, but the simple fact of the matter is that meat isn't something a lot of cultures will budge on. Grown meat is the only realistic path towards substantially reduced animal suffering in the "near" future
They explain their product is not vegan. I'm curious how they source their material and the animal cruelty involved there.

What's the number of its carbon footprint?

OMG OMG OMG!!! I've been waiting for this for decades!!! I love animals, but i wasn't able to give up meat, so this is exactly what I've been hoping for!!! I've tried the plant based fake meats like Beyond and Impossible, but they don't even come close to the real thing. My body craves real meat, but my mind hates all suffering, so perfect cultivated meat is my dream!

Please please please i hope this tastes exactly like the real thing!

Can't wait until this is in grocery stores!

I guess it’s a start, but from the pictures I’ve seen, it looks more like a mechanically separated chicken product than good whole muscle meat. Maybe okay for applications that involve a lot of processing like a breaded and fried thing, or stews/curries where it’s going to be cooked for an extended time with a lot of added flavour. This is a long way from replicating something like a grilled chicken breast.

Last time i checked in on cultivated meat, it seemed like collecting fetal bovine serum required them to do a lot of slaughtering, which kind of defeats the point. Have there been any advancements in that area?

https://twitter.com/elliotswartz/status/1483433664616669184?s=21
- Really interesting, thank you!
~~This is my question too.~~
If this and this are to be believed, it might be bovine serum-free. Looks like they may not be the only ones who've done it either.
- Well if that's true then this is fantastic news!

I'm super interested in information about purine levels in the various cultivated meats that will hit the market soon. There's also a company called Wildtype that's trying to get their grown salmon into the market. I've heard it's sushi grade... It would be great if I could eat sushi and steak again. Off to eat my salad now, bye y'all!

I've been watching Wildtype excitedly for some time, I'll definitely jump at the first chance I get to try it!

Well, fancy meeting you out here too!

I’ll be interested to see what my decidedly vegetarian SO thinks about this (I’m mainly vegetarian but am more omnivorous). We opt for Impossible where available, and it’ll be interesting to see if either of us gravitate to it.

Sounds cool, we are now that much closer to growing meat in a lab on a space station. Can you imagine astronauts manufacturing their own meat on extended stays in space?