The FDA states cultured animal cell food products for human food and pet food are “expected to be ready for the market in the not too distant future.”
In a recent announcement, the FDA and USDA will jointly regulate foods made with cultured animal cells. Both agencies will oversee the cultured animal cell process, USDA will inspect the ‘meat’ product and pass (or fail) the product as USDA inspected and passed and FDA will oversee the labeling of the products in food and animal food.
The FDA describes the process of cultured animal cell food products as:
“There is a long history of scientific advances in biology, biochemistry, and engineering that have led to the innovations enabling the growth of animal cells outside of the animal itself, in a controlled environment, for food. The process, while complex, can be broadly summarized in a few steps.
Step 1: Scientists typically start with a sample of cells from the tissue of an animal, a process that typically does not permanently harm or kill the animal. Some cells from the sample are selected, screened, and grown to make a “bank” of cells to store for later use.
Step 2: To make food, a small number of cells are taken from the cell bank and placed in a tightly controlled and monitored environment (e.g. a very large sealed vessel) that supports growth and cellular multiplication by supplying appropriate nutrients and other factors.
Step 3: After the cells have multiplied many times over into billions or trillions of cells, additional factors (e.g., protein growth factors, new surfaces for cell attachment, additional nutrients) are added to the controlled environment to enable the cells to differentiate into various cell types and assume characteristics of muscle, fat, or connective tissue cells.
Step 4: Once the cells have differentiated into the desired type, the cellular material can be harvested from the controlled environment and prepared using conventional food processing and packaging methods.”
From the webinar held by both agencies we learned of a concern of the cultured animal cell products that FDA will allow into pet food/animal feed; “byproducts“. “FDA will oversee both cell culture and food processing, packaging, and labeling for all animal feeds incorporating cultured animal cells and their byproducts.” The FDA provided no explanation to what “byproducts” of the cultured animal cell animal food ingredients might consist of.
FDA explains that these cultured animal cell food products and by products must be “labeled truthfully“, however the agency does not provide us with information on what these products will be termed (such as ‘animal cell beef’ or ‘animal cell beef byproducts’).
We can safely assume that this new product will enter into the pet food market before it is available in human food. Will the safety of animal cell foods and byproducts be fully investigated and explained to pet food consumers prior to its use? And will the pet food or treat be properly labeled to inform the consumer? Or will pet owners be the last to be informed with pets becoming unknowing test subjects of these products?
How do you feel about lab grown meat in pet food?
Pet owners can read more from FDA about cultured animal cell food products at the links below:
https://www.fda.gov/food/food-ingredients-packaging/foods-made-cultured-animal-cells
Wishing you and your pet(s) the best,
Susan Thixton
Pet Food Safety Advocate
TruthaboutPetFood.com
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chris
August 4, 2020 at 12:20 pm
I would not feed lab grown meat to my own family much less my dogs (who are my family too).
Margo Mann
August 4, 2020 at 12:28 pm
I feel highly suspicious, doubtful and negative about the whole process!
Natalie
August 4, 2020 at 10:42 pm
I can’t wait for lab grown meat. There is nothing clean or humane about farming animals now.
Iva Kimmelman
August 5, 2020 at 5:06 pm
I think we need to be open minded. We cannot sustain the current world with beef, chickens etc for humans and our pets. IF there is a shortage, what will happen. You don’t think our pets will come first if people are starving. Honestly, we need to see the big picture. I am vegetarian and it is a constant conflict that I feed dead animals to my whippets. Let’s keep an open mind. We can’t trust what we have now much more than what we THINK we could trust with this. Open minds.
Teresa Johnson
August 4, 2020 at 12:44 pm
Frankenfood! This article made me cringe. I’ve seen human health issues rise with the onslaught of GMO foods, over use of pesticides and artificial fertilizers. I do not want to imagine what this “technology” will do to our pets, and eventually us…because profiteering corporations will push it for human use too.
Such are the things of nightmares.
T Allen
August 4, 2020 at 1:00 pm
I can’t see it happening except as another waste product. It’ll be too expensive for a long time. I agree it might be rolled out as a trial first but more likely it’ll be trialed in foreign countries in humans like always. I can more easily see it being used as a high quality “feed” for insects being raised for human consumption. because of the lower quantity needed and the safety of the product should be excellent (until mass production and China/India/etc get involved).
Barb Wehrspann
August 4, 2020 at 1:21 pm
Just when science makes possible a solution to the cruelty administered to farm animals the FDA won’t let go of its cosy relationship with meat packers’ by products. It’s holding us and our pets hostage to the same by products we know are bad for them. We can still fight this deceptive practice and not buy them.
Janet Byrnes
August 4, 2020 at 2:42 pm
I would not knowingly feed lab grown “meat” to my family, either two-legged or four-legged family members. One thing that really concerns me is truthful labeling and if people might end up feeding this without knowing it.
Peg
August 4, 2020 at 3:31 pm
I wouldn’t feed lab grown meat to my garbage pail
Pam Roussell
August 4, 2020 at 4:16 pm
The whole idea of this makes me nauseous. And we’re supposed to trust the FDA to “oversee” these processes truthfully when they won’t even enforce law concerning pet feed ingredients? I don’t think so.
bknuth96
August 4, 2020 at 5:04 pm
I love it, but I may be wrong, nothing ever is as seems anymore. I would love that pig, chickens, cows etc did not have to suffer so we can have and enjoy our pets. I do NOT like bill gates associated with it thou after all that is coming to the fore front about the deep state crap. Guess we will have to wait and see.
Mary
August 4, 2020 at 5:29 pm
HORRIBLE, and definitely cannot trust the FDA to “keep an eye on regulations” or make sure everything is as it should be.
cindy
August 4, 2020 at 7:45 pm
Just when I thought I could not distrust the FDA more. No, would not eat this stuff. Would not feed it to my dogs.
I wonder what they’re smoking up at the FDA anyway?
Melisse Fowler
August 4, 2020 at 9:01 pm
It’s Soylent Green!!! “Soylent Green is people!” Go out and read the Wikipedia entry about the movie. It takes place in 2022, so not so far off of what is currently taking place, except that we’re not recycling actual bodies to make the protein…..we’re growing it / cloning it. Scary real.
Jayne
August 4, 2020 at 9:05 pm
Yuk. Not for me or my pet.
Concerned
August 4, 2020 at 9:52 pm
Purina Pyrex Protein – No antibiotics – No hormones – Lots of LONG SCIENTIFIC NAME STUFF – but don’t worry, it’s ALL NATURAL
M Girdon
August 5, 2020 at 12:41 pm
Truth in labeling us virtually non existent on pet food labels. PET FOOD falls under the USDA now.
The USDAallows companies to put pretty pics of happy chickens on labels. Meat by products include the contents of the pets stomach, intestines and more. The FDA allows US slaughtered chickens to be “processed”
Returned to US for us to eat; wraps state “origin USA,” never mentioning their trip to Chins. Sane for frozen seafood. You think the FDA and USDA (they are even worse) cannot be trusted. Of and that infected chicken leg? What do you think happens with it? And don’t forget , the rest of that sane chicken is cut into parts and sold to people.
Susan Thixton
August 5, 2020 at 12:45 pm
Just to clarify – USDA does not regulate pet food. FDA does.
Saba
August 5, 2020 at 12:54 pm
Oh geez, more synthetic garbage to feed our pets. Why do we humans believe we can provide better than nature already does (maybe bc we can cash in more money for it?). So sick of this. Once we start understanding that nature has given us everything we need to heal and survive, that it’s been staring us down the whole time, it will be too late.
Deborah Joyce
August 6, 2020 at 7:19 am
I heard about this possibility at a vegan/ vegetarian meeting. If we can produce meat without warehousing animals ,many good things could follow. To name a few..less mistreated animals, less slaughtered, no antibiotics in this meat ,less waste from the awful factory farms ect. Less disease. If meat could be humanely produced much suffering could be aleviateted.
Of course greed and cheating need to be monitored as it always follows. We absolutely need to move away from factory farming. This could be part of the way.