USDA Secretary Discusses Growing Real Meat without Animals

As the Wall Street Journal points out this week, a big debate in the world of cellular agriculture lately has been just who should regulate clean meat (real meat grown from animal cells): the FDA, USDA, or both. While FDA has already made some positive signals about its willingness to treat clean meat start-ups fairly, this week, USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue commented, too. The cabinet member publicly embraced such innovation, touting it as a way to “feed people more efficiently and effectively.”

That’s exactly the argument made in Quartz this week: that if we’re serious about food security, we need to get serious about growing meat without animals. And more start-ups are taking up that challenge, including start-ups that were founded for entirely other purposes, as Business Insider reports. Just what might these start-ups make possible? Kosher bacon cheeseburgers, according to the New York Times. There’s still the debate over what to call it, but one thing is clear: As I write in the Sun Chronicle this week, it must be called meat.

Finally, California is not only home to many cell ag start-ups, but it’s also home to some of the most important animal protection laws. This week, the state enacted a new law banning the sale of cosmetics tested on animals, and it just might soon enact the world’s strongest farm animal protection law, too.

Best,
Paul

P.S. Video of the week: These animals sure love running.

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Paul Shapiro
CEO & Cofounder, The Better Meat Co.
Author, Washington Post bestseller Clean Meat
Co-Host, Business for Good Podcast
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