No, lab-grown chicken is not currently being sold in U.S. grocery stores

In June, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) approved the sale of chicken made from animal cells for the first time in the United States. This approval gives two California companies, Upside Foods and Good Meat, the green light to sell cultivated or “lab-grown” chicken in the U.S.

Since the news broke on June 21, several VERIFY viewers, including Sandy and Yvonne, have asked us questions about lab-grown chicken. They both want to know if it is currently being sold in U.S. grocery stores.

THE QUESTION

Is lab-grown chicken currently being sold in U.S. grocery stores?

THE SOURCES

THE ANSWER

No, lab-grown chicken is not currently being sold in U.S. grocery stores.

WHAT WE FOUND

Although the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has approved the sale of cultivated or lab-grown chicken made from animal cells in the U.S., and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has deemed it safe to eat — it won’t be available in grocery stores anytime soon.

That’s because cultivated chicken is much more expensive than farmed chicken meat and it cannot yet be produced on the scale of traditional meat, according to Ricardo San Martin, director of the Alt:Meat Lab at the University of California Berkeley. Instead, it will be sold exclusively to restaurants for now.

Upside Foods, one of two companies that received federal approval, details how the company makes its cultivated chicken on its website. It says it grows its chicken from real animal cells instead of raising and slaughtering animals to produce meat.

Upside Foods says it takes a sample of animal cells and places them in a cultivator, where it feeds the cells the right blend of nutrients to multiply and grow. After about two to three weeks, the company says its cultivated chicken is “harvested, formulated and ready to enjoy.”

“The process of making cultivated meat is similar to brewing beer. But instead of growing yeast or bacteria, we grow animal cells,” Upside Foods says.

When Upside Foods cultivated chicken is sold in stores, the company says it will bear the same USDA seal of approval found on all meat products because it is subject to the same inspection process as conventionally produced meat.

“Cultivated meat is a brand-new product category, so we understand that there’s a lot of confusion out there about what it is and what it isn’t. For one thing, cultivated meat is not vegan or vegetarian. It’s not a meat alternative — it’s meat!” Upside Foods says.

Good Meat already sells cultivated meat in Singapore — the first country in the world to allow it. Joinn Biologics, a manufacturing company that works with Good Meat, was also cleared by federal regulators to make the products in the U.S.

Good Meat’s products are created from a master cell bank formed from a commercially available chicken cell line. Once the cell lines are selected, they’re combined with a broth-like mixture that includes amino acids, fatty acids, sugars, salts, vitamins and other elements the cells need to grow.

Like Upside Foods, Good Meat also grows animal cells inside a cultivator. Once the cells grow into large masses, they are eventually shaped into a range of meat products, including cutlets, nuggets, shredded chicken and satays.

Before it reaches grocery store shelves, Upside Foods and Good Meat plan to first serve their cultivated chicken exclusively in restaurants.

Upside Foods has partnered with a San Francisco restaurant called Bar Crenn, where Michelin Star chef Dominique Crenn has developed a signature dish featuring Upside Foods’ cultivated chicken. It was first sold to Bar Crenn customers on July 1, 2023, where it was labeled as “cultivated chicken” on the menu.

Meanwhile, Good Meat has partnered with Chef José Andrés, a celebrated restaurateur and humanitarian who operates more than 30 restaurants nationwide. Good Meat’s cultivated chicken will soon be sold for the first time at Andrés’ China Chilcano restaurant in Washington, D.C.

“We have taken a significant step forward, a giant leap in fact, towards feeding our communities in a sustainable way. I’m proud to be a part of GOOD Meat’s mission and soon the people of Washington, D.C. will be able to taste for themselves at China Chilcano,” Andrés said in a statement.

VERIFY reached out to Upside Foods and Good Meat with additional questions but did not hear back by the time of publication.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.