Lab-grown chicken is closer than ever to hitting American grocery store shelves. GOOD Meat, a company developing "cultivated" meat made from chicken cells, announced on Tuesday that it has received a "no questions" letter from the Food and Drug Administration, meaning that the product has been deemed safe to eat. While this is a major victory for the company—and those who are eager to try so-called "slaughter-free" meat—the product will still need approval from the Department of Agriculture before it can be sold.
"Receiving a 'no questions' letter from the FDA and a subsequent clearance from the USDA will allow GOOD Meat to scale up manufacturing and begin introducing its products to American consumers," said Dan Glickman, GOOD Meat Advisory Board member and former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture. "Just as the United States has been a global leader in modernizing conventional food and agriculture techniques, it too can lead in the emerging alternative protein space. Today's announcement is one such example."
