The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced its stamp of approval for the first lab-grown meat products to hit the public market on Wednesday. Pioneers in the "cultivated meat" industry, UPSIDE Foods and GOOD Meat received the much-awaited nod on Wednesday to commence commercial sales of their lab-created chicken products.

USDA's approval sent a wave of celebration across the companies, with UPSIDE Foods ecstatically announcing, "THE DAY HAS FINALLY ARRIVED! We are APPROVED TO SELL our cell-cultivated chicken in the US!"

The clearance follows a "no questions" response received by GOOD Meat from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in March this year, validating the safety of their lab-grown chicken. UPSIDE Foods had previously bagged a similar thumbs-up in November 2022, Fox Business reported. 

Proponents of lab-grown meat argue that the technology harnesses the potential to revolutionize the food industry by curbing animal harm and mitigating environmental impact. As Josh Tetrick, Eat Just's co-founder and CEO, points out, this innovative approach eliminates the need for the vast land and water resources currently used in traditional animal farming. Eat Just is the parent company of GOOD Meat.

This groundbreaking method involves extracting cells from living animals, such as fertilized eggs, and incubating them to yield sizable masses of meat. These are then trimmed and reshaped to mimic traditional butchered meat products.

GOOD Meat's website highlights its commitment to creating real meat without the associated environmental and ethical costs. The statement reads, "GOOD Meat is real meat, made without tearing down a forest or taking a life. We’re the first and only company in the world to sell cultivated meat made from cells instead of slaughtered animals."

Despite this milestone, the companies aren't planning to hit retail stores just yet, mainly due to production costs that currently overshadow those of regular meat production. Instead, both UPSIDE Foods and GOOD Meat plan to introduce their products at partnered restaurants, charting a new path for the future of meat consumption.