On Wednesday, June 21, 2023, the USDA officially approved the sale of cultivated meat in the United States. According to VegNews, cultivated meat is defined as “just like traditional meat, only unlike the latter, which is taken from farmed animals, the former is grown from real animal cells inside a lab.” It is also known as “cultured” or “lab-grown meat.”

According to the Associated Press, the two companies that have passed regulatory tests, Upside Foods and Good Meat, are partnering with San Francisco restaurant Bar Crenn and a Washington, D.C., restaurant owned by chef José Andrés respectively. Good Meat has previously sold its cultivated meat in Singapore.

I’ve been a vegetarian for almost seven years, and while I would not eat cultivated meat personally, I still want this industry to grow and succeed. Providing the option of cultivated meat would allow people to make more environmentally friendly decisions without giving up the taste of meat entirely. This might encourage people who would never think of adopting a vegetarian, vegan, or otherwise plant-based diet to do so.

Some people can’t eat a vegan diet because they have dietary restrictions. Similarly, some disabled people might need specific nutrients to survive. Those recovering from eating disorders are discouraged from eating vegetarian or vegan as it could lead to a relapse in their recovery. These obstacles to adopting a plant-based diet become less of a hinderance with an option like cultivated meat. While this is not plant-based meat as it’s created from animal cells, it is still another way to make environmentally conscious diets accessible.

Of course, it’s not up to individual people to save the planet either. From clothes made by underpaid workers to gas companies drilling for oil in the Arctic, we are forced to make many unethical decisions every day against our will. It is ultimately up to the corporations which have the most power to do something about our suffering climate.

The positive effects cultivated meat could have on our planet are vast. According to the Good Food Institute, using renewable energy to grow cultivated meat could reduce emissions by 92% and land use by 90% compared to conventional beef (it’s important to note that cell-cultivated chicken is the only meat in the works right now). It also means that we can grow only what we need and reduce animal waste and animal slaughter.

We also need to make sure we are aware of what goes into our bodies. While cultivated chicken is now FDA- and USDA-approved, the two organizations are working to create systems that will regulate the manufacturing, packaging, and categorization of this food.

We do, at least, know how the process works. According to the Associated Press, “cultivated meat is grown in steel tanks, using cells that come from a living animal, a fertilized egg or a special bank of stored cells. In Upside’s case, it comes out in large sheets that are then formed into shapes like chicken cutlets and sausages. Good Meat […] turns masses of chicken cells into cutlets, nuggets, shredded meat and satays.”

Cultivated meat is not the be all, end all solution to saving our planet. Cultivated meat in any form won’t be available in grocery stores for at least a few years anyway due to its expensive manufacturing price tag. But we must choose environmentally friendly options when we can and speak out about these issues, or nothing will change.