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  1. Food Ingredients & Packaging

Human Food Made with Cultured Animal Cells

The ability to take a small number of cells from living animals and grow them in a controlled environment to create food made from cultured animal cells is an emerging area of food science. Advancements in cell culture technology are enabling food developers to use cells obtained from livestock, poultry, seafood, or other animals in the production of food.

There is currently no food made from cultured animal cells available for sale in the U.S. market. Manufacturers are generally working on scaling up their processes to consistently produce amounts large enough to be competitively priced. As these products come closer to market, the FDA is closely coordinating with the United States Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA-FSIS), which shares jurisdiction over these human food products for certain animal species to ensure that they are safe and accurately labeled. Both agencies are working with manufacturers to ensure these products meet all applicable FDA and USDA-FSIS requirements.

The FDA is continuing to work with firms that are developing food made from cultured animal cells to ensure that the processes used to produce them are safe and lawful under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. While it is a shared responsibility for the FDA and industry to ensure food is safe, it is the manufacturer’s responsibility to ensure they are marketing food that meets all applicable FDA requirements.



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