Last checked at 
(Alliance News) - Agronomics Ltd on Friday said that Californian company Upside Foods Inc has become the first lab-grown meat company to gain label approval from the US Department of Agriculture, which it said is a "significant milestone" for the industry.
Agronomics is an Isle of Man-based venture capital investor in alternative proteins, focused on cellular agriculture and cultivated meat. Cultivated meat is produced through in vitro cultivation of animal cells instead of from slaughtered animals.
Agronomics said the USDA had granted label approval to Upside on Monday. The approval allows Upside to label its cell-cultivated chicken products as safe to eat in the US. Upside previously had become the first company to have cell-cultivated meat products designated as safe to eat by the US Food & Drug Administration on November 17 last year.
"This is a first for a cell-cultivated meat company and represents a momentous step forward for the entire industry," Agronomics commented.
Agronomics now hopes that the USDA will provide a grant of inspection to Upside's production facility in Emeryville, California. Grant of inspection would confirm that the facility meets US federal operating requirements for meat and poultry facilities, and would allow Upside to achieve full approval to sell its products in the US market.
Agronomics said it is "confident" that other cultivated meat producers will gain FDA and USDA approval "in the coming years". It anticipates that cultivated meat could be available in 35% of the global meat market by 2040.
"This clearly indicates the positive direction of travel for our industry, and we are confident that cultivated meat products will soon be on US shelves," said Agronomics Executive Director Jim Mellon.
"In addition, US regulations for food safety are some of the most stringent in the world, such that the decisions of the FDA and USDA pave the way for other jurisdictions across the globe to approve the sale of cellular food products."
Shares in Agronomics were up down 0.5% at 10.65 pence in London on Friday morning.
By Emma Curzon, Alliance News reporter
Comments and questions to newsroom@alliancenews.com
Copyright 2023 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
