Cultivated Meat: How FDA and USDA are Addressing Food Safety

Brian Sylvester and Tommy Tobin authored a Food Safety Magazine article titled "Cultivated Meat: How FDA and USDA are Addressing Food Safety" detailing what cultivated meat is, who is in charge of regulating it, the current landscape of the industry, and key takeaways for food safety professionals.

Concerns around food safety and scalability have surfaced since the successful launch of cultivated meat products in the U.S. For example, a spring 2023 Wall Street Journal article1 noted that cultivated meat makers are in a "battle against bacteria." Safety is, of course, paramount, and U.S. food regulators have collaborated with academics, global food regulators, and cultivated meat developers to establish an approach to safety within the existing regulatory framework—all with an eye toward ensuring that foods developed through cell culture technology are safe and wholesome.