Laboratory-grown meat products, commonly known as "artificial meat", will soon appear on American dining tables, according to a recent report in the American Journal of Science. The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced recently that they will jointly monitor the production of this meat so that it can be safely sold to consumers across the country.

A joint statement issued by the two agencies said they would work together to "nurture these innovative foods and maintain the highest standards to maintain public health."

According to the division of labor, the FDA will be responsible for the collection, storage and cultivation of cells needed to make artificial meat, while the USDA will be responsible for the production and labelling of food products.

Whats so special about meat bred in the laboratory? Why do we need joint supervision by the two regulators? What obstacles will this meat encounter on its way to consumer dining tables?

"Artificial meat" has many benefits

To grow artificial meat in the laboratory, a biopsy is needed first, that is, to extract a tissue or organ from an animal, usually with a needle, to obtain stem cells, which are then reproduced in a Petri dish to obtain muscle tissue.

Laboratory-grown meat has many benefits. First, it will eliminate the need to breed and slaughter animals. You know, in the United States alone, about 9 billion chickens and 32 million cattle are slaughtered every year.

It also helps to curb climate change, as agriculture, especially meat production, is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions. Of course, if the laboratory cultivation meat technology can be successfully promoted, it will also make the relevant people make a lot of money and get huge economic returns.

In 2013, Mark Poster, a bioengineer at Maastricht University in the Netherlands, created the first artificial steak ever made. Subsequently, artificial meat attracted numerous investment funds, and many private companies, including Microsoft founder Bill Gates and PayPal founder Peter Tell, and other well-known investors, expressed great interest in it and made a lot of efforts to promote its business development.

For example, on August 1, 2017, Impossible Foods, a company that specializes in making beef pies from vegetarian ingredients, announced that it had received a total of $75 million in financing from investment companies and individuals such as Temasek, Bill Gates and Kosla Venture Capital.

Two-pronged approach to ensure the highest standards

But so far, how these artificial meat products from the laboratory to the consumers basket, and eventually put on the table, has been facing the problem of how to regulate. But that is changing. On November 16, the US Department of Agriculture and the FDA formally established a regulatory framework for the commercialization of meat products manufactured in laboratories. This is the first time in the world.

In October, the FDA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture held a meeting to discuss the regulatory framework needed to implement food production and issued a joint statement. The statement said that the FDA would be responsible for managing the whole process of cells in the laboratory, which is the traditional competence of the agency. After these stages, the USDA will take over. It will supervise the production and labeling of products. "The regulatory framework will draw on FDAs experience in managing cell culture technology and living biological systems, as well as USDAs expertise in managing livestock and poultry products for human consumption. We believe that this regulatory framework can be successfully implemented and ensure the safety of these products.

Jessica Almi, head of the American Institute of Quality Food Research, said: "We believe that the two agencies can coordinate to ensure that meat produced through cell culture is harmless to consumers and labeled correctly, without any need for new regulations or additional regulations." The implication is that any new legal framework is unnecessary to put lab-made meat on the market.

Currently, the USDA and FDA are actively optimizing technical details, but they say they have the right to coordinate their regulatory systems so that no additional legislation is needed.

In response, Almi could not hide his excitement: "These two departments provide such convenience for predictable transparent management, which is a very encouraging sign for the industry.

Brian Spears, from New Age Meats, a meat farming startup, said: "The new regulatory framework reduces uncertainty and enables us to develop innovative technologies in the United States to make meat more delicious, healthier and sustainable. In addition, the Joint framework enables us to provide more R&D and manufacturing jobs more quickly."

High prices are still a "roadblock"

However, artificial meat is facing another "roadblock" on its way to the dining table: high prices. In 2013, Poster created the first artificial steak at a cost of 250,000 euros (about 2 million yuan).

Jean-Franois Okate, director of research at the National Institute of Agronomy in France, said: "Although costs are bound to fall dramatically, it will be difficult to enter the industrial stage unless technological breakthroughs are made."

Several emerging enterprises in the United States, the Netherlands, Israel and other countries are currently working to solve this problem. In addition, we can count on a lot of support from the agro-food processing industry. The biggest supporter is Tyson Venture Capital, a venture capital company owned by Tyson Food, the largest meat product company in the United States. And Cargill, Google or Bill Gates mentioned earlier. Just, a California startup known for producing egg-free mayonnaise, has raised $245 million since its inception in 2011.

"The governments of Israel, Japan and Singapore have shown great interest in this food technology," Almi added. Maybe in the near future, we can eat delicious artificial meat.