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CulinaryCultivated Meat: Food from Animal Cells
Twenty flashcards on food grown from animal cells, how the FDA and USDA oversee it, and the products already reviewed.
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20 cards
- What is food made from cultured animal cells?
- Food grown from a small number of animal cells in a controlled environment.
- Step 1: where do the cells come from?
- A sample of animal tissue, taken without harm to or death of the animal; chosen cells form a cell bank.
- Step 2: where do the cells grow?
- In sealed sterile vessels of increasing size that supply nutrients.
- Step 3: how do cells become muscle or fat?
- After multiplying into billions or trillions, growth factors and new surfaces are added so they differentiate.
- Step 4: what happens at the end?
- The cells are harvested and prepared with conventional food processing and packaging.
- When did the FDA and USDA sign their formal agreement on cell-cultured food?
- March 7, 2019.
- For livestock and poultry cells, what does the FDA oversee?
- Cell collection, cell banks, and cell growth and differentiation.
- When does oversight pass to USDA-FSIS?
- At harvest; FSIS then oversees further production and labeling.
- Who regulates cultured seafood other than fish of the order Siluriformes?
- The FDA.
- What does USDA-FSIS require of the product label?
- Preapproval, then verification through inspection.
- How often do the two agencies review their agreement?
- Every three years.
- Is the FDA pre-market consultation an approval?
- No. It means the FDA has no further questions about the firm's safety conclusion.
- Which firm completed the first FDA pre-market consultation, and when?
- UPSIDE Foods, with chicken cells, on November 16, 2022.
- Which firm completed the second, and when?
- GOOD Meat, also with chicken cells, on March 21, 2023.
- What did Mission Barns' consultation cover, and when did it end?
- Cultured pork fat from belly fat cells of Yorkshire pigs, on March 7, 2025.
- Which fish has a completed FDA consultation?
- Coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch), with the FDA response dated May 28, 2025.
- Beyond the FDA review, what must a chicken-cell plant get from USDA-FSIS?
- A grant of inspection for the plant and a mark of inspection on the food.
- What does the FDA review in a pre-market consultation?
- The production process and cell material: cell lines, cell banks, manufacturing controls and all inputs.
- What does the FDA plan once Mission Barns starts commercial production?
- Another inspection of the facility.
- What does the FDA public inventory publish for each consultation?
- Food and species, file number, the firm's submission, the FDA letter and the scientific memo.
Official sources
U.S. Food and Drug Administration
Human Food Made with Cultured Animal Cells
U.S. Food and Drug Administration and USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service
Formal Agreement Between FDA and USDA Regarding Oversight of Human Food Produced Using Animal Cell Technology
U.S. Food and Drug Administration
FDA Completes First Pre-Market Consultation for Human Food Made Using Animal Cell Culture Technology (November 16, 2022)
U.S. Food and Drug Administration
FDA Completes Second Pre-Market Consultation for Human Food Made Using Animal Cell Culture Technology (March 21, 2023)
U.S. Food and Drug Administration
FDA Completes Pre-Market Consultation for Human Food Made with Cultured Pork Fat Cells (March 7, 2025)
U.S. Food and Drug Administration
Inventory of Completed Pre-market Consultations for Human Food Made with Cultured Animal Cells
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