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It’s hard to shrug this off as ‘Frankenfood.’ There’s big investment behind these new products that could be a game changer for the meat industry.

Will cultivated meat grown directly from animal cells go mainstream? We’ll soon find out.

Good Meat and Upside Foods can now sell “cell-cultivated” lab-grown chicken parts for human consumption in the wake of approvals last month from the United States Department of Agriculture. The products will be available first in selected restaurants, with no word yet on when they might begin retail distribution.

A BRIGHT FUTURE?

Some observers jeer that it’s “Frankenfood” and only a flash in the pan. But others see a bright future for a meat supply that could provide a safe means to feed the world’s population without harm to animals and with a much lower environmental impact than traditional farming and ranching. Bill Gates and Richard Branson are among those supporting the concept, and Tyson Foods was an early investor in Upside Foods. Indeed, lots of time and money have been spent getting the products this far. Worldwide, an estimated 150 companies are working — at one level or another — on cultivated meats.

Bill Gates and Richard Branson are among those supporting the concept, and Tyson Foods was an early investor in Upside Foods.

Let’s look at the two companies now in the spotlight.

Upside Foods, Berkeley, Calif., has been working to bring “cultivated meat” to the American mainstream for the past eight years. Its cell-cultivated chicken was the first lab-grown meat designated as safe for human consumption by the United States Food and Drug Administration last November.

Upside’s process starts with selected cells from fertilized chicken eggs that are put into a cultivator. Here, the cells multiply as they are fed  water and amino acids. In a few weeks, the meat is removed and shaped into a chicken fillet. Upside products are expected to first appear at the Michelin-starred Atelier Crenn, San Francisco.

Good Meat, a division of Eat Just, Alameda, Calif., has been the only company in the world selling cultivated meat since it launched in Singapore in 2020. It’s already begun producing chicken for José Andrés Group, which has more than 30 restaurants nationwide. It’ll appear on the menu at one of the restaurants in Washington, D.C.

George Anderson, Editor-in-Chief of RetailWire.com, posted a discussion on his site recently, noting that Sen. Cory Booker (D.-N.J.) “had not eaten meat since the 1990s when he tried the Good Meat chicken in March. The sena- tor, who supports cell-cultivated meat, said he was “blown away” by the taste.

THE CONSUMER RESPONSE?

So, how will mainstream consumers respond? Well, last year Cadent Consulting Group, Wilton, Conn., surveyed 230 shoppers — about three-fourths of whom were plant-based meat buyers. More than half of the total sample were aware of cell-based meat, and 72% of them said they would be interested in purchasing cell-based meat.

Don Stuart, managing partner at Cadent, says the shoppers gave three reasons why they would purchase cell-based meat versus conventional meat: perceived health benefits, environmental concerns and concern about the ethical treatment of animals.

As you might expect, the No. 1 factor in determining a purchase decision was taste. This may be in reaction to some of their taste experiences with plant-based products. In addition, “clean ingredients and natural” came up as leading reasons for purchasing cell-based meat versus plant-based meat.

“In our view, the health profile of cell-based meat should be nearly identical to actual meat products unless there are unexpected side effects. There should be environmental benefits, but these are yet to quantified, while the ethical treatment of animals is definitely a benefit,” according to Stuart.

He adds that while he expects the approvals for chicken will expand to other forms, there are several key issues that need to be addressed:

• Will consumers see this as “Frankenfood” or real food?
• How much will buyers pay? Price did come up as a key issue for not purchasing plant-based products and the price premium will be significant for cell-based until mass-scale efficiencies are achieved.
• Will taste and texture really be just like the real thing?

That will ultimately be decided by the consumer, Stuart notes.

“The approvals (for cultivated meat) came shockingly fast, positioning the United States as the first country after Singapore to approve lab-grown or cell-based meat for sale,” Stuart notes. He and others interviewed by FR Buyer believe it could take awhile (perhaps years) for sufficient volume to allow for mass sales at retail at less than high premium price points.