Cultivated pork to be sold in US in “historic” first as cultivated meat company Missions Barns is approved by FDA
The company’s pork products, which include bacon and meatballs, are cultivated from animal cells to produce “real” meat but without the need to slaughter an animal.
Cultivated sausage containing real meat without harming an animal. Credit: Mission Barns
Cultivated pork products are set to go on sale in the US as the government has now now issued its approval to a food company which produces cell-cultivated pork fat.
San Francisco-based company Mission Barns announced this week that it has received a “No Questions” letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its cultivated pork fat. The letter is an industry standard which is used to indicate when the government agency has completed a rigorous evaluation of any new or novel food and deemed it safe for human consumption.
The decision is a significant moment for the cultivated meat industry, as Mission Barns’ upcoming products will now make history as the first cultivated pork products for sale anywhere in the world.
Mission Barns becomes the third company that has been approved to sell cultivated products in the US, following previous government approval back in 2023 for cultivated-chicken from Upside Foods and Good Meat.
The company’s cultivated meat products are set to launch in selected retailers and restaurants in the future. Credit: Mission Barns
Also known as cellular agriculture or lab-grown meat, cultivated meat production creates ‘real’ meat, but it is cultivated - grown - directly from animal cells, rather than a farmed animal. The process is projected to become a key solution in creating a more sustainable and kind global food system, by producing meat that sidesteps the environmental and ethical issues typically associated with farming and slaughtering millions of animals.
Mission Barns says its cultivated meat products, which include pork-based meatballs and bacon, require only a single animal component: a “harmless” sample taken from a pig. This sample is then grown using plant-based nutrients in a cultivator.
This industry process that takes animal cells and cultivates - or grows - them in a laboratory setting, is often compared in a simplified way to the process of how beer is fermented.
Just one sample from a pig could be used to cultivate the same amount of meat as millions of farmed animals, says Missions Barns. This efficiency and productivity could therefore help meet the demand for pork products while reducing the need to farm and slaughter animals.
Cultivated meatballs. Credit: Mission Barns
“We are expecting 1.7 billion more humans on our planet in the next 25 years and we need to innovate in order to find more efficient ways to produce delicious food products to feed the world,” says Eitan Fischer, founder and CEO of Mission Barns.
The company says consumers will only eat cultivated food if it’s "absolutely delicious," which is why Mission Barns pursued a “fat-first approach” to focus on bringing cultivated pork fat to the market. Fat, the brand says, is the main driver of flavor and juiciness, and this can be cultivated to create “real pork without the animal.”
Following the news of its approval to sell cultivated pork fat in the US, Mission Barns has announced a partnership with Fiorella, a leading Italian restaurant group in the San Francisco area which will become the first place in the world to offer cultivated pork products for sale.
The restaurant group is expected to feature Mission Barns flagship products including Italian Style Cultivated Meatballs and Applewood Smoked Cultivated Bacon.
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