California company gets OK to produce chicken meat grown in lab

BERKELEY, Calif. (KABC) -- Would you eat chicken meat grown in a laboratory?

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is giving a California company the green light to give it a shot.

Berkeley-based Upside Foods will be able to start selling its product once its facilities have been inspected by the Department of Agriculture.

The company says it takes cells from a single chicken to grow a cell line that produces enough meat for years, if not decades. The process is described as similar to brewing beer, but instead of growing yeast or microbes, they grow animal cells.

It pitches the concept as a more humane way to provide animal proteins, and one that is also better for the environment.

The FDA says it accepts the company's data on the safety of its product. So far Upside Foods is the only company given FDA clearance for a cultured-chicken product.