Introduction

Cell-cultivated meat involves producing meat cells in a lab from an initial sample of animal muscle cells that do not require animals to be slaughtered.¹ The first cell-cultivated meat was developed for human consumption in 2013 by a scientist from Maastricht University in the Netherlands and was in the form of a ground beef burger patty.² The patty cost about $330,000 to produce.³ Since then, technological advancements have allowed scientists to produce a wide range of cell-cultivated products, including cell-cultivated beef, pork, chicken, duck, lamb, and seafood.⁴ The major obstacles to bringing cell-cultivated meat products to the marketplace are economically producing at scale and creating a similar texture and flavor to meat produced through animal husbandry and slaughter.⁵

The U.S. Drug and Food Administration (FDA) provided its premarket review and approval for two companies—GOOD Meat and UPSIDE Foods—to sell cell-cultivated chicken in U.S. markets in 2022.⁶ In June 2023, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) issued the first-ever grants of inspection to the two companies to produce cell-cultivated chicken in their facilities, and approved the label of "cell-cultivated chicken" for their products.⁷ In early July 2023, UPSIDE Foods sold its first cell-cultivated chicken at a restaurant in San Francisco and GOOD Meat sold its first cell-cultivated chicken in a restaurant in Washington, DC.⁸

This was the first time that USDA and FDA regulators had approved companies to produce cell-cultivated meat products to be sold in the United States. USDA and FDA are jointly regulating the production and labeling of the new food products.

This report provides an overview of the industry and science of cell-cultivated meat, the regulatory frameworks for cell-cultivated meat products, and congressional interests and potential policy considerations.

What Is Cell-Cultivated Meat?

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) anticipates that by 2032, global consumption of meat proteins will increase, as compared with 2020-2022, from 339 million metric tons of meat protein consumed to 382 million metric tons (13% increase).⁹ FAO attributes this potential increase in meat consumption to population growth and increased household incomes. Some researchers suggest that increasing meat production to meet the higher demand will likely result in negative environmental impacts, including increased greenhouse gas emissions, land use changes, and increased water demand.¹⁰ Researchers suggest that producing cell-cultivated meat may require less land, have lower greenhouse gas emissions, and have less impact on water and land than traditional meat production.¹¹ (See "Commercialization Hurdles" for further discussion.)

Cell-cultivated meat is developed in a lab and grown from a sample of animal cells that does not require the slaughter of animals. Developing cell-cultivated meat involves five steps: (1) taking a biopsy of animal cells, (2) cell banking, (3) cell growth, (4) harvesting, and (5) food processing. (See Figure 1 for an overview of each of these steps.) Cell-cultivated products are created uniquely from animal cells and are not analogous to plant-based meat-type products produced from plant proteins such as soybeans, peas, or nuts. A cell-cultivated meat product would not be considered a vegan or vegetarian option because it involves taking a sample of animal cells.

Currently, cell-cultivated meat is not a genetically engineered (GE) product. According to a 2020 U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, it is possible that GE tools could be used in cell-cultivated meat to target desirable traits.¹² The report noted that cell-cultivated meat producers would be concerned that using GE tools in cell-cultivated meat production would considerably extend the regulatory approval process and result in consumer resistance to the products.¹³

Figure 1. The General Process for Making Cell-Cultivated Meat

Source: GAO and U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service, GAO-20-325.

Cell-Cultivated Meat Industry Profile

In 2022, the Good Food Institute, an organization advocating for the alternative meat industry, counted 156 companies worldwide involved in the cell-cultivated meat industry.¹⁴ The companies were located across six continents, with most of the companies based in the United States (n=43), Israel (n=17), the United Kingdom (n=17), and Singapore (n=12). Approximately 60% of the companies are focused on formulating and manufacturing products. The remaining companies are focused on components of the laboratory process, such as developing cell culture media, maintaining bioreactors, and optimizing ingredients.¹⁵ The United States and Singapore are the only countries that allow cell-cultivated meat products to be sold to consumers. The Singapore Food Agency approved the sale of GOOD Meat cell-cultivated chicken in the country in December 2020.¹⁶ FSIS provided final premarket approval to GOOD Meat and UPSIDE Foods to produce and sell cell-cultivated chicken in the United States in June 2023.¹⁷

Private Investment

The primary source of funding for the cell-cultivated meat and seafood industry comes from venture capital. The Good Food Institute estimated that from 2010 to 2022, approximately $3 billion in private capital was invested in cell-cultivated meat and seafood companies worldwide. Private investments for cell-cultivated meat companies across the supply chain totaled

• $410 million from 51 deals involving 453 unique investors in 2020;¹⁸
• $1.3 billion from 83 deals involving 263 unique investors in 2021;¹⁹ and
• $896 million from 77 deals involving 110 unique investors in 2022.²⁰

The biggest investment in 2022 was $400 million for UPSIDE Foods. Some of the world's largest food and meat companies, in addition to their other investments, are investing in cell-cultivated meat companies. For example, Tyson Foods invested in UPSIDE Foods in 2018 and Believer Meats in 2021.²¹ JBS acquired BioTech Foods in 2022 and announced the development of a cultivated meat research and development center in Brazil.²² Cargill invested in UPSIDE Foods in 2017 and 2020, and invested in Aleph Farms in 2019.²³

Public Investment

Federal agencies support the cell-cultivated meat and seafood industry but at a lower level than private investors. In the last 10 years, the National Science Foundation (NSF) has issued roughly $5 million in research grants and the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) has issued approximately $12 million of research grants for cell-cultivated meat projects. Most of these research grants were awarded to universities.²⁴ NSF funded cultivated meat research through its Growing Convergence Research Program, Small Business Innovation Research Program, and I-Corps Program.²⁵ NIFA awarded cultivated meat research grants through its Small Business Innovation Research Program, Agriculture and Food Research Initiative, and Hatch Act funding provided to 1862 Land-Grant Institutions.²⁶

Commercialization Hurdles

The cell-cultivated meat industry faces various hurdles in commercializing the technology. The primary hurdles are scaling up production, matching the taste and texture of traditional meat, and reducing the cost of finished products.

Researchers and scientists cite several issues with the current cell-cultivated technology that make it difficult to scale up production (i.e., going from developing a few sample products to show proof of concept to producing enough products to sell to grocery stores and restaurants regionally, nationally, or globally). Researchers have raised concerns about the effectiveness of bioreactors and found that they may not be as effective when used for bulk cell growth, and are likely to need retooling to keep current cell metabolism rates (i.e., how quickly energy is broken down in a cell to keep it running) when increasing the number of cells to grow.²⁷

Scientists say one of the most difficult aspects of cell-cultivated meat production is replicating the texture of traditional meat. The current technology can generate meat muscle cells, but the cells have little shape.²⁸ Scientists are trying to incorporate plant cells to serve as scaffolding to provide the meat muscle cells with structure.²⁹ Researchers at Tufts University are developing cell-cultivated fat cells designed to improve the meat's texture and taste.³⁰

Some researchers have explored the cost of producing cell-cultivated meat on a large-scale basis. One study estimated the wholesale cost would be $63 to produce one kilogram (or over $28 per pound) of cell-cultivated meat, and at retail in a supermarket or restaurant, the cost would likely be over $100 per kilogram (or $45 per pound).³¹ Researchers determined that the major costs of production were the cell-culture medium, bioreactors, and highly trained labor to operate the bioreactors.³² These costs account for approximately 80% of the production costs. To be able to economically scale the production of cell-cultivated meat products to make them competitively priced with conventionally produced meat, inexpensive starter cells and growth medium would be required, as well as very large bioreactors.³³

Some researchers have questioned whether cell-cultivated meat and poultry production will have less of an environmental impact than conventional meat and poultry production. For example, University of California-Davis (UC-Davis) researchers assessed the life-cycle energy needs and greenhouse gas emitted throughout the production of cell-cultivated beef compared with conventionally grown beef.³⁴ According to the researchers' initial findings, "the environmental impact of cultured meat is likely to be higher than conventional beef systems, as opposed to more environmentally friendly." The research is preliminary and has not been published in a peer-reviewed journal to date. Researchers attribute this increased environmental impact to the highly refined growth medium used in production, which is a pharmaceutical-grade medium rather than a food-grade medium. The researchers acknowledge that the technology used for cell-cultivated meat production is in its early stages, and that future technological innovations will likely be needed to scale production of cell-cultivated meat in a more environmentally sustainable fashion.

Experts in the cell-cultivated meat field have pushed back on the UC-Davis life-cycle analysis study because it assumes pharmaceutical-grade medium are being used in cultivated meat production.³⁵ According to researchers, the cultivated meat industry is moving to food-grade medium, which requires less energy to produce compared with pharmaceutical-grade medium.

Another issue for cell-cultivated meat companies is consumer acceptance of their products. A June 2023 survey found that 50% of respondents were "not very" or "not at all" interested in eating cell-cultivated meat.³⁶ Respondents said "weirdness" and "concern about food safety" were reasons for their lack of interest in trying cell-cultivated meat. UPSIDE's Chief Operating Officer noted that many consumers are "skeptical, even squeamish" about meat produced from cells, but she has found that consumers' attitudes change once they understand how the products are developed and are able to taste the products.³⁷

U.S. Regulations

The Debate: USDA Versus FDA

From February 2018 to February 2019, stakeholders, Congress, FDA, and USDA debated whether FDA or USDA had the authority to regulate cell-cultivated meat products. In February 2018, the United States Cattlemen's Association (USCA) submitted a petition to USDA asking that the Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) establish meat-labeling requirements that exclude products not derived directly from animals raised and slaughtered from being labeled as beef or meat.³⁸

In April 2018 testimony before the House Committee on Appropriations, the Secretary of Agriculture stated that meat and poultry are under the sole purview of USDA, and that any product labeled as meat would fall under USDA jurisdiction.³⁹ Similarly, in May 2018 the House-reported agriculture appropriations bill—H.R. 5961—included a general provision that required USDA to regulate cell-cultivated meat, but the provision was not in the enacted appropriation. General provision 736 read

For fiscal year 2018 and hereafter, the Secretary shall regulate products made from cells of amenable species of livestock, as defined in the Federal Meat Inspection Act, or poultry, as defined in the Poultry Products Inspection Act, grown under controlled conditions for use as human food, and shall issue regulations prescribing the type and frequency of inspection required for the manufacture and processing of such products, as well as other requirements necessary to prevent the adulteration and misbranding of these products.

In June 2018, the FDA Commissioner argued that FDA has the authority to regulate cell-cultivated meat. The Commissioner stated that

[u]nder the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, the FDA has jurisdiction over "food," which includes "articles used for food" and "articles used for components of any such article." Thus, as a starting point, both substances used in the manufacture of these products of animal cell culture technology and the products themselves that will be used for food are subject to the FDA's jurisdiction.⁴⁰

FDA held a public meeting entitled "Foods Produced Using Animal Cell Culture Technology" in July to discuss the emerging technology.⁴¹

In response to the FDA announcement, a USDA spokesman reportedly stated that

FDA's claim of jurisdiction over food—and anything used in food—is so overly broad that it implies that USDA doesn't have a role. According to federal law, meat and poultry inspections are the sole purview of USDA, so we expect any product marketed as "meat" to be USDA's responsibility. We look forward to working with FDA as we engage the public on this issue.⁴²

The National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) also released a press statement in response to the FDA announcement. NCBA stated that FDA was disregarding the role of USDA in regulating meat under the Federal Meat Inspection Act and USDA's "significant scientific expertise and long-standing success in ensuring the safety of all meat and poultry." The release also noted that FDA has an important role in additives that are used in meat and poultry products.⁴³

In June 2018, the Good Food Institute, which supports and lobbies for cell-cultivated meat, stated that "there's room for the FDA and USDA to work together in regulating the new food technology."⁴⁴

In October 2018, FDA and USDA jointly hosted a public meeting, "The Use of Cell Culture Technology to Develop Products Derived from Livestock and Poultry." At the meeting, USDA and FDA officials discussed respective regulatory frameworks and how they could apply to cell-cultivated meat.⁴⁵

FDA-USDA Agreement on Jurisdiction

In February 2019, Congress directed FDA and USDA to establish a formal agreement that would delineate each agency's responsibilities for regulating cell-cultivated meat (conference report accompanying the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2019, Division B of H.Rept. 116-9 for P.L. 116-6). As a result, FDA and USDA issued a joint formal agreement outlining the regulatory roles for each agency in March 2019.⁴⁶ Joint regulation of food products by FDA and FSIS is not unusual. FDA and FSIS often share overlapping responsibilities for some food products and have developed memoranda of understanding to facilitate communication and division of responsibilities between the two agencies.⁴⁷

Under the formal agreement, FDA is to issue regulations or guidance on inspections for companies involved in cell collection, cell lines, and the differentiation process.⁴⁸ FDA is to ensure that entities follow the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, as amended (21 U.S.C. §§301 et seq.), current Good Manufacturing Practices, and preventive control regulations to ensure that the substances leaving the culturing process are safe and not adulterated.

At the point of harvest, FDA transfers oversight to USDA. Entities harvesting cells for human food will be subject to FSIS regulations on sanitation, Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point verification, and testing to ensure the products are unadulterated, wholesome, and properly labeled under the Federal Meat Inspection Act, as amended (FMIA; 21 U.S.C. §§601 et seq.), and the Poultry Products Inspection Act, as amended (PPIA; 21 U.S.C. §§451 et seq.). Throughout the cell-cultivated meat production process, the agreement affirms that FDA and USDA are to share information and collaborate on regulation.

According to GAO, FDA and USDA established three working groups to implement the agreement in June 2019.⁴⁹ The three working group areas are (1) premarket assessment, led by FDA; (2) labeling, led by USDA; and (3) transfer of jurisdiction, jointly led by FDA and USDA.⁵⁰ GAO issued a report on the agreement and made six recommendations for FDA and USDA to improve coordination of their regulatory oversight of cell-cultivated meat.⁵¹ According to GAO, the two agencies have implemented four of the recommendations. USDA and FDA had expected to implement the remaining two GAO recommendations in May 2023. However, as of September 2023, GAO has not determined whether the agencies have fully implemented them.⁵²

Regulatory Process

As outlined in the agreement, FDA and USDA jointly regulate cell-cultivated meat products based on their food safety authorities.⁵³ FDA regulates the cell development process of cell-cultivated meat production, and FSIS takes over during the food processing stage, when the cells are turned into meat and poultry products. FDA is responsible for overseeing both the cell development process and food processing for cell-cultivated seafood (see Figure 1).

FDA Oversight

Cell-cultivated meat technology is complex, and production processes may vary. In general, FDA is responsible for regulating the following steps:⁵⁴

• 1. Taking a sample of cells from the tissue of an animal that does not require harm to or death of the animal. Cells are selected, screened, and grown to make a "bank" of cells to store for later use.
• 2. Putting a small number of cells into bioreactors with nutrients and other materials to encourage cell growth and multiplication to billions or trillions of cells.
• 3. Growing the cultivated meat in the bioreactors by adding protein growth factors, scaffolding (i.e., structures for cells to grow on), and other nutrient materials to encourage cells to differentiate into different types of cells.
• 4. Once the cells have grown and differentiated into the desired type, harvesting the cellular material from the controlled environment for food processing. At this stage, regulatory authority transfers to USDA.

FDA uses its premarket consultation process and inspections of records and facilities to evaluate the food safety of cell-cultivated meat. FDA works with cell-cultivated meat developers on a product-by-product basis to ensure that the production process does not violate the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA; 21 U.S.C. §§301 et seq.). FDA evaluates the production process and the cell-cultivated material made by the production process, including the establishment of cell lines and cell banks, manufacturing controls, and all components and inputs.

USDA Oversight

Regulatory authority passes from FDA to USDA's FSIS during the harvest stage, when cultivated meat products are removed from the sealed growing environment and transferred to the food processing stage. FSIS issues "grants of inspection" for companies to process cell-cultivated meat to verify that the food processing facilities meet the FMIA and the PPIA requirements for sanitation, Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) plans, and the facility design requirements.⁵⁵

During processing, FSIS inspectors inspect cell-cultivated meat post-harvest and inspect processing facilities at least once a shift, which is similar to FSIS procedures for conventional meat and poultry processing. FSIS also inspects the labels for cell-cultivated meat and poultry to ensure the labels are truthful and not misleading. As with all meat and poultry inspected by FSIS, the labels for cell-cultivated meat and poultry products are required to receive prior approval before being affixed to packaging.⁵⁶

In September 2021, FSIS issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking seeking public comment on labeling considerations for cell-cultivated meat.⁵⁷ FDA published a similar request for public comment on the labeling of cell-cultivated seafood in October 2020.⁵⁸

First Approvals: UPSIDE Foods and GOOD Meat

On November 16, 2022, FDA completed its first premarket consultation with UPSIDE Foods for a cell-cultivated meat product for human consumption.⁵⁹ UPSIDE Foods submitted information to FDA on its process to develop cell-cultivated chicken. FDA evaluated the company's production process, including taking cells from chickens and establishing cell banks, manufacturing controls for the controlled environment, and the inputs that would be added to the controlled environment. FDA stated that "after our careful evaluation of the data and information shared by the firm, we have no further questions at this time about the firm's safety conclusion." On March 21, 2023, FDA completed its second premarket consultation for GOOD Meat on its process to develop cell-cultivated chicken.⁶⁰ FDA evaluated the materials submitted by GOOD Meat and determined it had no further questions about the company's safety conclusion.

After receiving premarket consultation clearance from FDA, GOOD Meat submitted information to FSIS on its demonstration plant in Alameda, CA, and its contract manufacturing partner, JOINN Biologics in Richmond, CA, for premarket review. UPSIDE Foods submitted similar information to FSIS for its facility in Emeryville, CA.⁶¹ In June 2023, FSIS issued grants of inspection to UPSIDE Foods and GOOD Meat approving their manufacturing facilities to produce cell-cultivated meat, the last step in the premarket regulatory process.⁶² FSIS also approved the label of "cell-cultivated chicken" to be used for the products produced in both facilities.

On July 1, 2023, UPSIDE Foods sold its first cell-cultivated chicken in the United States in Bar Crenn, a restaurant in San Francisco owned by Chef Dominique Crenn.⁶³ GOOD Meat featured its cell-cultivated chicken in China Chilcano, a restaurant in Washington, DC, owned by Chef José Andrés on July 5, 2023.⁶⁴

Labeling Cell-Cultivated Meat

Much debate has centered on the name for the technology referred to in this report as cell-cultivated meat technology. Reporters and scientists have referred to the technology and products it produces as lab-grown meat, in vitro meat, fake meat, cell-based meat, cell-cultured meat, and cultivated meat. Some of the early ideas for labelling the technology came from the alternative protein industry, which preferred the term "clean meat." The livestock industry was concerned that the term "clean meat" would imply that meat produced using animal husbandry and slaughter was "dirty meat."

Researchers have explored consumers' preferences when it comes to labels for cell-cultivated meat.⁶⁵ Researchers found that consumers prefer the term "cultivated" and "cultured" rather than "cell-cultivated" and "cell-cultured" when referring to cell-cultivated meat. Researchers also found that government safety assurances showing approval by FDA or USDA on the product label were important to consumers.

In November 2022, 36 companies that are members of the Asia-Pacific Society for Cellular Agriculture signed a memorandum of understanding agreeing to use "cultivated" as the preferred English-language term for cell-cultivated products.⁶⁶

In June 2023, USDA's FSIS took the first step in approving the label to be used to describe cell-cultivated meat products sold in the United States. FSIS approved the label of "cell-cultivated chicken" to be used for the products developed by GOOD Meat and UPSIDE Foods. GOOD Meat issued a statement saying that it and the industry prefer "cultivated" to "cell-cultivated" for their products.⁶⁷

Some states have enacted laws that restrict the use of "meat" and associated terms, such as "hamburger" and "sausage," to products that have been developed through raising animals and slaughtering them. These state laws may restrict how cell-cultivated meat products are labeled. See "Selected State Labeling Laws" below.

Livestock Stakeholder Views

Livestock stakeholders have focused on the labeling of cell-cultivated meat products. In comments to FSIS on labeling, the National Chicken Council (NCC), the leading trade organization for the broiler industry, asked that FSIS require that a term such as "cell-cultured" be used on labels to differentiate products from conventional chicken. The NCC also asked that USDA establish a standard of identity for cell-cultivated products to simplify label rulemaking.⁶⁸ Both the National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) and the National Pork Producers Council, national associations for the beef and pork industry, respectively, stated in comments on the labeling rule that the FSIS label should differentiate between a cell-cultivated product and product from animals.⁶⁹ The North American Meat Institute, a representative of the meat industry, provided similar comments to FSIS that called for differentiation and standards of identity. NAMI also noted the FSIS label approval process is adequate to regulate the claims of cultured meat.⁷⁰ In July 2023, NCBA members passed a directive in part stating, "Our priority is ensuring that consumers accurately know the difference between real beef and cell-cultured products through transparent and accurate labeling."⁷¹

Selected State Labeling Laws

Starting in early 2018, some state governments began enacting laws to govern the labeling of cell-cultivated meat products. Many of these laws prohibit the use of the term meat on the labels of cell-cultivated meat products, and some of these laws state that it is considered misbranding to label a cell-cultivated meat products with the term meat.

In the future, as cell-cultivated meat products enter commerce more widely, questions may arise about the potential interaction between these state laws, some of which are described below, and the federal labeling requirements.⁷²

• Arkansas. H.B. 1407, enacted March 18, 2019, prohibits the labeling of cell-cultivated food as meat.⁷³
• Kansas. S.B. 261, enacted on May 5, 2022, requires that alterative meat products sold in Kansas using meat terms be considered as misbranded if those products do not include a disclaimer that they do not contain meat.⁷⁴
• Kentucky. H.B. 311, enacted on March 21, 2019, states that food made of cultivated animal tissue produced from in vitro cultivated animal cells cannot be labeled as meat or a meat product.⁷⁵
• Mississippi. S.B. 2922, enacted on March 12, 2019, prohibits the labeling of cell-cultivated meat using meat terms.⁷⁶
• Missouri. S.B. 627, enacted on June 1, 2018, prohibits the making of false claims of meat if the meat was not derived from the harvested production of livestock or poultry. ⁷⁷
• North Dakota. H.B. 140, enacted on March 12, 2019, states that cell-cultivated meat products cannot be labeled as meat.⁷⁸
• Oklahoma. H.B. 306, enacted on May 19, 2020, defines meat as "any edible portion of livestock or part thereof" and declares it to be misrepresentation to label a product as meat that is not derived from harvested production of livestock.⁷⁹
• South Carolina. H. 4245, enacted on May 16, 2019, makes it unlawful to advertise, sell, label, or misrepresent as "meat" or "clean meat" cell-cultivated meat that is not derived from harvested production livestock, poultry, fish, or crustaceans.⁸⁰
• Wyoming. S.B. 68, enacted on January 10, 2018, prohibits the use of meat terms for the labeling, advertising, and selling of cell-cultivated meat products, and requires that cell-cultivated products be labeled as "containing cell-cultured products."⁸¹

Congressional Activities

Three bills on cell-cultivated meat were introduced during the 116^th Congress. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith introduced the Cell-Cultivated Meat and Poultry Regulation Act of 2019 (S. 1056), which would have given USDA responsibility for regulating, inspecting, and labeling cell-based meat products. It also would have codified the responsibilities of FSIS and the FDA over food products developed in laboratories from animal cell cultures, by amending the FMIA and the PPIA. Also, Senator Mike Enzi and Representative Dusty Johnson introduced the Food Safety Modernization for Innovative Technologies Act (S. 3053, H.R. 5728). These bills would have provided statutory authority for joint agency jurisdiction over food intended for humans that is produced using animal cell culture technology, with FDA overseeing tissue collection, cell lines, and cell banks, and USDA regulating food derived from cell lines of livestock and poultry. The purposes of these bills have (largely) been addressed by the FDA and USDA regulations pursuant to the directions in the report for the Consolidated Appropriation Act, 2019 (H.Rept. 116-9).

The 117^th Congress did not introduce bills on cell-cultivated meat, and thus far the 118^th Congress has not introduced bills on cell-cultivated meat or the types of products that can be labeled as meat. However, two amendments submitted to the House Rules Committee (amendments #74 and #97) for the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2024 (H.R. 4368), would prohibit the use of funds for research on cell-cultivated meat.⁸² At the date of publication, the Rules Committee had not voted on a rule for H.R. 4368. The House Appropriations Committee report for H.R. 4368 mentioned "cell-cultured protein."

H.Rept. 118-124 for H.R. 4368 stated,

The Committee requests a report within 90 days of enactment of this Act outlining the pre-market consultation process for cell-cultured protein products, noting any special accommodations made to comply with the Formal Agreement and any agency plans to coordinate with its counterparts at USDA on further action regarding the same products.

On June 27, 2023, H.R. 4368 was introduced, reported from House Appropriations Committee, and placed on the Union Calendar for consideration.

Policy Considerations

Congress may or may not take further action concerning cell-cultivated meat products. If Congress chooses to act, it might address the following policy issues.

Labeling

FSIS stated that UPSIDE Foods and GOOD Meat can produce and sell products labeled as cell-cultivated chicken. Some state laws prohibit the use of meat terms on labels for cultivated meat products. Congress could provide guidance to FSIS on how cell-cultivated meat labels issued at the federal level should interact with state laws governing the labeling of cell-cultivated meat products.

Federal Research

Researchers have identified certain obstacles for effectively scaling up production in the cell-cultivated meat industry: the high price and limited supply of growth medium, and the reduced effectiveness of bioreactors as they work with more cells. Congress could prioritize funding for NSF and NIFA research grant programs for projects that focus on overcoming the obstacles facing the cell-cultivated meat industry in scaling up production.

Alternatively, Congress may choose to pass legislation to prohibit funding of cell-cultivated meat research, similar to the proposed amendments to the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2024 (H.R. 4368). If that prohibition were established in law, then Congress would be unable to prioritize funding for cell-cultivated meat research through NSF and NIFA research grant programs.

Setting International Standards

Cell-cultivated meat products are relatively new. Worldwide standards and regulations for those products have not been established. Congress could encourage the U.S. Codex Office, under administration of the USDA Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs Office, to jointly develop voluntary international food standards, guidelines, and codes of practice for cell-cultivated meat products under the Codex Alimentarius, or Food Code.⁸³ The Codex Alimentarius is a collection of voluntary standards, guidelines, and codes of practices that guide the production, exporting, and importing of food products and agricultural commodities.⁸⁴ The U.S. Codex Office works with the commission to develop recommendations, which in turn helps to foster harmonization of global food standards and ensure fair trade standards.