Cultivated meat media kit
Cultivated meat stands to transform our global food system. Learn the basics and dig into the latest updates on this game-changing protein alternative.
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The basics
Cultivated meat offers the game-changing potential to make meat in a healthier, safer, and more sustainable way. Cultivated meat looks, cooks, and tastes the same as the beef, pork, chicken, and fish we eat today, but grown directly from animal cells, without the need for antibiotics, hormones, and steroids.
By producing meat this way, we can satisfy the growing global demand for protein while reducing pressure on our planet and enhancing food security. When produced at scale using renewable energy, cultivated meat is projected to generate a fraction of the emissions and require much less land and water compared to conventional meat production.
Nomenclature consensus
Following multiple consumer studies and corporate surveys, industry consensus has landed on “cultivated” as the preferred term for meat produced directly from animal cells.
The latest research conducted by Embold Research (2022) and commissioned by GFI demonstrates consumer preferences for using “cultivated meat” over other terms such as “cultured,” “lab-grown,” and “cell-based.” These findings mirror the results of two other studies: a 2019 GFI-commissioned Mattson study, and a 2020 Rutgers seafood study commissioned by BlueNalu. Both studies found “cultivated” to be consumers’ preferred term.
Globally, cultivated meat companies and key industry stakeholders have aligned on “cultivated.” In fact, 30 key industry stakeholders across Asia—from companies to regional coalition groups, and government initiatives—adopted “cultivated” as the preferred English-language descriptor for all food products grown directly from animal cells.
Globally, cultivated meat companies and key industry stakeholders have aligned on “cultivated.” Just last month, 30 key industry stakeholders across Asia—from companies to regional coalition groups, and government initiatives—adopted “cultivated” as the preferred English-language descriptor for all food products grown directly from animal cells.
Global challenges require scalable solutions
If the world is to achieve its climate, global health, food security, and biodiversity goals, diversifying how meat is made will be as essential as the global transition to renewable energy. This is why we need alternative proteins.
Major breakthroughs for cultivated meat
In November 2024, building on its successful Singapore debut, Australian startup Vow launched its Japanese quail product in Hong Kong, making it the first company to sell cultivated meat in China. Vow received its initial regulatory approval in March 2024 to sell its product in Singapore.
Earlier in 2024, Israel’s Ministry of Health (MoH) issued a pre-market approval for Aleph Cuts, the world’s first cultivated beef steaks, in a “No Questions” letter. This green light is the first ever for non-chicken cultivated meat anywhere in the world and the first for cultivated meat of any kind in the Middle East.
The same year, Singapore lined its grocery shelves with a hybrid cultivated chicken product—containing 3% cultivated meat and 97% plant-based ingredients— by GOOD Meat. Available as a frozen retail product to home cooks in Singapore, the new hybrid chicken product is a solid step toward scaling the emerging cultivated meat industry. By dramatically reducing per-piece costs through hybrid formulations, cultivated meat companies can sell to a larger share of the population while they work to scale up manufacturing volumes.
In 2023, two American companies – UPSIDE Foods and GOOD Meat – received landmark grants of inspection from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), allowing them to sell their cultivated chicken products in the United States. This regulatory breakthrough means Americans are closer to purchasing cultivated meat than ever.
In 2022, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (USDA) became the second regulatory agency worldwide to greenlight a cultivated meat product, setting out a clear path to market in the United States for cultivated meat companies under a transparent regulatory process. This historic news follows the Singapore Food Agency’s world-first approval of a cultivated meat product in late 2020.
Cultivated meat FAQs
Read responses to some of the most frequently asked questions about cultivated meat.
What is cultivated meat?
Cultivated meat is essentially the same as the beef, pork, chicken, and fish we eat today but grown directly from animal cells, without the need for antibiotics, hormones, and steroids. It also has the potential to improve meat’s nutritional profile, such as its saturated fat, cholesterol, and vitamin content.
Cultivated meat has the potential to generate a fraction of the emissions and require far less land and water compared to conventional meat production. When produced at scale using renewable energy, cultivated meat can cut emissions by 92%, and use up to 95% less land and 78% less water than conventional beef.
How does cultivated meat compare?
- On taste: Cultivated meat can give consumers the same experience as conventional meat in terms of taste, smell, texture, and consistency. Grown in a controlled environment with less opportunity for contamination, this production method shows potential to produce fresher, safer, and more desirable cuts of meat.
- On health: In facilities similar to breweries, cultivated meat is fed basic nutrients such as amino acids, vitamins, and other proteins. Just as with animal meat, the composition of cultivated meat depends on the conditions in which it grows and what it’s fed. Unlike conventional animal products, cultivated meat is made without the need for antibiotics, hormones, or steroids, and has the potential to improve meat’s nutritional profile, such as its saturated fat, cholesterol, and vitamin content.
- On the planet: Cultivating meat is more efficient than conventional meat production. When produced at a commercial scale using renewable energy, meat made in this way could produce up to 92% less emissions, and use up to 95% less land and 78% less water when compared to conventional beef production.
Is cultivated meat safe?
In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration is responsible for ensuring the safety of foods available in the U.S. market and, together with the USDA, will regulate the sale of cultivated meat.
Each cultivated meat product will be assessed by the FDA as part of a rigorous pre-market safety review. Cultivated meat companies must then follow the same processes that conventional meat companies must follow to ensure safe production and handling.
The clean and controlled environment in which cultivated meat is produced, akin to modern breweries, offers numerous advantages for product safety, including the reduced risk of contaminants and foodborne pathogens.
Can cultivated meat improve public health?
Conventional meat requires ingredients that cultivated meat does not: antibiotics, steroids, and other additives. This means that, unlike our current methods of meat production, cultivated meat will not contribute to antibiotic resistance. Read about the global health benefits of alternative proteins and this Nature Food article for more on cultivated meat and antibiotics.
According to the CDC, three out of four new or emerging infectious diseases in humans come from animals. Cultivated meat is produced in facilities with cleaner conditions than conventional meat processing facilities. This reduces the risk of both foodborne illnesses and zoonotic diseases.
Cultivated meat visual library
Our cultivated meat image library presents an ever-increasing selection of cultivated meat images available for use under Creative Commons licenses. Check out photos from Avant Meats, New Age Meats, Shiok Meats, Wild Type, BlueNalu, and more!
Industry resources
Read these related resources to learn more about the burgeoning field of cultivated meat.
Cultivated meat
This is your guide to cultivated meat. Explore our tools, resources, and expert analysis of the cultivated meat industry.
The science of cultivated meat
Learn about the science of cultivated meat and the challenges that must be addressed for commercial production.
State of the Industry Report: Cultivated meat and seafood
This report details the commercial landscape, investments, regulatory developments, and scientific progress in the cultivated meat and seafood industry.
Research supports the term “cultivated meat”
Research conducted in December 2022 validates the use of “cultivated meat” over “cell-cultured meat” and other terms. Learn more in our fact sheet.
Cultivated meat: A growing nomenclature consensus
GFI Founder and CEO Bruce Friedrich explores the increased sector alignment around the preferred category name for meat produced through cellular agriculture.
Meat cultivation: Embracing the science of nature
We developed a set of science-forward, evidence-based communication tools, rooted in familiar language, to help explain meat cultivation to non-technical audiences.
Cultivated meat LCA/TEA report analysis
Recent studies show cultivated meat could have reduced environmental impacts and be cost-competitive with some forms of conventional meat.
The State of Global Policy on Alternative Proteins
Our annual State of Global Policy Report tracks public investment in alternative proteins and showcases the actions governments took to position themselves as leaders in the field.
Transforming a 12,000-year-old technology
GFI President Bruce Friedrich argues for Nature that animal agriculture is an antiquated technology ripe for transformation.
Cultivated meat as a tool for fighting antimicrobial resistance
GFI’s Claire Bomkamp on how antibiotic use in livestock and aquaculture production is driving resistance to medically important antibiotics.
Words of support
From high-level government reports and directives to statements from leaders in industry and business, cultivated meat has been recognized as a powerful solution for creating a more resilient food system.
The order acknowledged the promise of “cultivating alternative food sources” and “looking to improve food security and drive agricultural innovation through new technologies…[including] foods made with cultured animal cells.”
“We’ve got new technology with stem cell protein growth there. While some people may be anxious about taking their markets, shouldn’t we in the United States be about how we can grow and feed people more efficiently and more effectively … these techniques need to be embraced, not kept out of.”
The UN Environment Programme’s Frontiers Report
This special issue of the Frontiers Report focuses on the potential environmental, health, social, and animal welfare implications of the uptake of novel meat and dairy alternatives, in particular novel plant-based, fermentation-derived, and cultivated products.
“Novel plant-based meat, cultivated meat and fermentation-derived foods show potential for reduced environmental impacts compared to many conventional ASF. They also show promise for reduced risk of zoonoses and antimicrobial resistance, and can significantly reduce animal welfare concerns associated with conventional animal agriculture.”
The Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Mitigating Risk and Capturing Opportunity Report
The Center for Strategic and International Studies released this report in May 2023 detailing ways alternative protein can solve for growing demand for food, the environmental strain of mass food production, and pandemic emergence.
“With the need to de-risk global food systems growing increasingly serious, many high-income and import-reliant economies are investing in alternative proteins as a means to establish a more sustainable and efficient domestic protein production. While the climate change benefits of alternative proteins have been fairly well documented to this point, relatively less is known about the ability of alternative proteins to allay risks inherent to today’s food systems. These include global risks associated with pandemic preparedness and disease prevention, as well as national security risks related to economic competitiveness and biosecurity across future agricultural markets.”
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Report
The IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report released in April, 2022, where the world’s top scientists name cultivated meat and other alternative proteins as transformative solutions which can play a critical role in halving global emissions by 2030. It states:
- Emerging food technologies such as precision fermentation, cultivated meat, and plant-based foods can “promise substantial reductions in direct greenhouse gas emissions from food production” (TS. 5.6.2).
- Citing a paper co-authored by GFI Israel senior scientist Tom Ben-Arye, the report acknowledges that, while in its infancy and reliant on increased investments, innovation, and regulatory approval, cultivated meat offers a more sustainable alternative to current livestock production systems and agricultural land use (7.3.3).
- As well as reducing emissions, sustainable proteins like cultivated meat “lower land, water, and nutrient footprints, and address concerns over animal welfare” (TS. 5.6.2).
Breakthrough Energy’s Federal Climate Policy Playbook
This resource includes policy recommendations for cultivated meat and other alternative proteins as a critical component of reaching net-zero emissions. It states:
“The federal government should invest in robust R&D to further explore innovations such as (…) cellular agriculture, including stable cell lines, optimized cell culture media for growing meat, novel methods of scaffolding support for muscle and fat cell growth, and improved bioreactor designs.”
Cultivated meat in the news
Read coverage by the world’s leading media outlets, who have followed on as the field of cultivated meat has evolved and grown.
U.S. Approves the Sale of Lab-Grown Chicken
GFI’s Bruce Friedrich on the global significance of the USDA’s grant of inspection for cultivated chicken.
How we’ll eat in 2050
GFI’s Dr. Liz Specht talks to CNN about the major role alternative proteins play in the future of food.
Seafood cultivated in a lab could help mitigate the next pandemic
GFI’s Dr. Faraz Harsini spoke with PRX on the scalability of cultivated meat as meat demand and pandemic risks grow.
Wall Street Journal: Cultivated meat explained
Wall Street Journal answers common questions about cultivated meat, with behind the scenes support from GFI’s lead cultivated meat scientist, Elliot Swartz, Ph.D.
Slaughter-free meat hits the grocery shelf
GFI’s Curt Chaffin, Bruce Friedrich, and Dr. Elliot Schwartz shared their insights with Nature on the role government funding can play in supporting the scalability and sustainability of the cultivated…
Lab-grown meat receives clearance from F.D.A.
GFI’s Dr. Liz Specht on what the FDA’s historic decision means for the cultivated meat industry.
The Protein Problem
The Associated Press published “The Protein Problem”, a multimedia series featuring articles on plant-based and cultivated meat, and includes GFI’s Bruce Friedrich.
Are you working on a story?
Access our full selection of media resources, including reports, data, and insights from the world of alternative proteins.
Recent media statements
Check out our media statements on breaking cultivated meat news and other alternative protein developments.
GOOD Meat and UPSIDE Foods approved to sell cultivated chicken following landmark USDA action
UPSIDE Foods and GOOD Meat received landmark grants of inspection from the USDA, allowing them to sell their cultivated chicken products in the U.S., marking a decisive moment in the…
New GFI State of the Industry reports highlight untold stories and transformative potential of alternative proteins
2022 saw a record number of new companies join the fold, unprecedented government support, and a continued expansion of alternative protein products hitting the market.
GFI celebrates FDA’s second greenlight to a cultivated meat company in a matter of months
GFI experts respond to FDAs “no questions” letter issued to GOOD Meat, marking the first time a cultivated meat product has received regulatory approval on multiple continents.
Historic FDA decision: Cultivated meat “greenlit” in U.S. pre-market review
GFI celebrates milestone FDA decision, which paves the way for consumers to purchase meat cultivated directly from animal cells in the U.S. for the very first time.
Arkansas Court Blocks Unconstitutional Meat Label Censorship Law
GFI, Animal Legal Defense Fund, and the ACLU have secured a court order that finds an Arkansas food label censorship law unconstitutional and permanently blocks enforcement of the law against…
New frameworks raise the bar on sustainability transparency of meat
FAIRR and GFI launch new first-of-their-kind reporting frameworks for alternative meat, seafood, eggs and dairy companies to reveal their climate, biodiversity, nutrition and other ESG impacts.
IPCC: Plant-based and cultivated meat can play a critical role in halving global emissions by 2030
GFI calls for increased public funding for alternative proteins as the world’s top scientists recognize that agricultural innovation — specifically plant-based and cultivated meat — mitigates climate change, delivers co-benefits…
Court Rules Louisiana Label Censorship Law Unconstitutional After First Amendment Challenge from Tofurky
The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana has granted a motion for summary judgment, halting enforcement of a labeling law in favor of Tofurky.
Record $5 billion invested in alt proteins in 2021, surging 60 percent since 2020
2021 was a record period for alternative protein investments globally, with $5 billion raised by companies creating sustainable alternatives to conventional animal-based foods.
Former MoveOn head, coalition builder, and expert strategist Ilya Sheyman joins GFI as president
Ilya Sheyman will join GFI as President on February 22, to lead all aspects of GFI-U.S.’s programmatic and administrative operations.
GFI celebrates UPSIDE Foods’ groundbreaking cultivated meat production facility, calls for public investment to massively scale and accelerate production
As UPSIDE Foods opens the world’s most advanced cultivated meat production facility, GFI urges increased investment from public and private sectors to speed up production and bring this better way…
Israeli President Isaac Herzog becomes world’s first president to taste cultivated meat, recognizes alternative proteins as a key climate solution
Israeli President Isaac Herzog has become the world’s first president to taste cultivated meat, as the country officially embraces alternative proteins as part of its National Climate Strategy ahead of…
GFI joins Representatives DeLauro and Clark in celebrating USDA funding of the first-ever National Institute for Cellular Agriculture at Tufts University
GFI joins Representatives Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and Katherine Clark (D-MA) in celebrating the USDA’s investment in the creation of the National Institute for Cellular Agriculture: the U.S.’ first-ever government supported…
Scientists awarded $5 million to boost research into alternative meats — a powerful and scalable climate solution
Despite booming commercial interest in alternative meat and the huge climate mitigation potential it offers, funding for academic research lags; GFI’s grant program is designed to address this shortfall and…
Hybrid plant-based and cultivated meat product from Nestlé could be “transformative” in the race to recreate meat, says GFI founder and president
GFI Founder and President Bruce Friedrich says that Nestlé S.A.’s work to bring a hybrid plant-based and cultivated meat product to market could be transformative for the alternative protein industry…
World’s first cultivated meat home delivery sparks call for public investment
As Eat Just and foodpanda partner to deliver cultivated chicken directly to Singapore consumers, GFI calls for public investment to spur innovation and bring even more products to the masses.
Record $3.1 billion invested in alt proteins in 2020, 3x the capital invested in 2019
2020 was a record-breaking year for alternative protein investments globally, with more capital raised during this period than in any single year in the industry’s history.
New studies further the case for cultivated meat over conventional meat in the race to net-zero emissions
A first-of-a-kind life cycle assessment and techno-economic assessment conducted by independent research firm CE Delft further the case for cultivated meat over conventional meat in the race to net-zero emissions.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu takes “one small bite for a man, one giant bite for humankind”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has today become the world’s first head of state to eat cultivated meat, enjoying a cultivated steak at a historic tasting event in Rehovot, just…
Historic, first-ever sale of cultivated meat is a huge step, but more investment is needed to bring it to the masses, says GFI Executive
As Eat Just makes the world’s first sale of cultivated chicken, The Good Food Institute calls for more government investment to ensure cultivated meat can be produced in volumes that…
The featured image showing cultivated chicken is courtesy of GOOD Meat
