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Lots of questions surround lab-grown meat

Questions about who should regulate lab-grown meat and its environmental impact remain unanswered.

Agri-Pulse is reporting the Food and Drug Administration has signaled it believes it has jurisdiction over cultured meat grown in laboratories as it holds a hearing next week to gather more input on the issue.

U.S. Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue has indicated his department should have authority, telling a congressional hearing earlier this year “meat and poultry has been under the sole purview of USDA.”  Perdue said he expects any product labeled as meat would come under that same inspection criteria.

Another point of contention on lab-grown meat is how large-scale production might impact the environment.

Hannah Thompson-Weeman with the Animal Agriculture Alliance tells Brownfield activist groups are claiming fake meat is better for the environment.

“But really, we don’t know that.  We don’t know what it would take energy-wise, water-wise, to produce these products at a scale that would replace or even compete in any kind of a significant way with conventional, traditional animal agriculture.”

Thompson-Weeman points out livestock production is responsible for just 4 percent of greenhouse gas emissions.  She says it’s a sustainable industry focused on continuous improvement and being good stewards of the land.