• 

Upside Foods, a California-based start-up for lab-grown meat, received the first green light from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Wednesday, but the product won't be available to consumers just yet.

The FDA confirmed it executed a "careful evaluation" of the company's cultivated chicken products, using data and information provided by the company and had "no further questions at this time."

However, the FDA specified that the evaluation did not constitute "an approval process" as the company will still need to be inspected by the US Department of Agriculture before selling on the market.

In a press release, founder and CEO Uma Valeti said, "We started UPSIDE amid a world full of skeptics, and today, we've made history again as the first company to receive a 'No Questions' letter from the FDA for cultivated meat," adding that it "is a watershed moment in the history of food."

Lab-grown meat is now the trend that allegedly allows humans to consume animal protein by being environment-friendly by steering away from farming and avoiding the suffering of animals. 

• 

They are, however, not the same as plant-based protein products, such as soy burgers that contain mock texture and the flavor of meat but without actually containing any animal protein.

Eat Just, a Singaporean competitor of Upside Foods, was the first start-up to be authorized to make artificial meat in 2020. 

As the lab-meat market proved complicated and costly, some companies are turning to lab-grown pet food.

Colorado start-up, Bond Pet Foods, is creating animal protein from a microbial fermentation process to feed dogs.

Read next: Microplastics detected in farm animals' meat, milk, blood