The U.S. meat industry and nascent competitor Memphis Meats agreed on a standard name — “cell-based meat and poultry” — for food produced from lab-cultured animal cells on Thursday and proposed joint FDA and USDA regulation of cell-based meat. Their proposal could snuff out a growing dispute over regulation of the products, including whether they can even be sold as meat, something strenuously opposed by cattle groups.
In a letter to President Trump, Barry Carpenter of the North American Meat Institute, the trade group for the meat industry, and Uma Valeti, chief executive of Memphis Meats, a food tech startup that is developing cultured meat, requested “a combined meeting between the White House, USDA, FDA, and both conventional and cell-based meat and poultry industry stakeholders” to “clarify” the lines of authority.
“Cell-based meats … are the latest in a long history of innovation in American agriculture. Recognizing a shared desire to support innovation and feed the world, moving forward, we will use the term ‘cell-based meat and poultry’ to describe the products that are the result of animal cell culture,” said the letter. “FDA should have oversight over pre-market safety evaluations for cell-based meat and poultry products. … Given USDA’s expertise in regulating meat and poultry, that role should continue.”
Carpenter and Valeti said the USDA and FDA could advise each other on points of importance. “Such a regulatory framework is not new and plays into the strengths and experience of FDA and USDA,” the letter said. A number of meatpackers, including Tyson Foods, have taken small stakes in companies developing cell-based meats. The industry sometimes describes itself as a “protein producer,” and longtime meatpackers have dabbled in plant-based proteins.
To read the joint letter, click here.