Ever since the first hamburger grown from bovine stem cells was unveiled in 2013, with a €250,000 price tag (around $280,000), biotechnologists have raced to produce an affordable alternative that tastes the same as meat, no slaughter—and fewer emissions—required. Startup Good Meat surged ahead when it launched its bioreactor-cultivated chicken morsels in Singapore in 2020, but rival Upside Foods wasn’t far behind. On June 21, the U.S. Department of Agriculture authorized both companies to sell cultivated meat in the U.S. Now that they are no longer vying for first, the companies can compete on taste and price.
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