A San Francisco startup just created the world's first lab-grown chicken

pulse

March 15, 2017 4:22 PM

Silicon Valley company Memphis Meats says it has cultivated the world's first lab-grown chicken from self-reproducing cells.

Memphis Meats' lab-grown chicken strip.

San Francisco-based startup Memphis Meats says it has made the world's first lab-grown chicken strips from animal cells.

On March 14, Memphis Meats invited a handful of taste-testers to their kitchen to try it. And according to the company, they said it tastes just like chicken.

"It is thrilling to introduce the first chicken and duck that didn’t require raising animals. This is a historic moment for the clean meat movement," Memphis Meats' cofounder and CEO, Uma Valeti, said in a press release.

In February 2016, the company said lab-grown meatballs, made by cultivating cow muscle tissue in a sterile environment. In addition to chicken, Memphis Meat announced on March 15 that it has cultivated lab-grown duck as well. The team said it expects to reduce production costs over the next few years, and start offering its products to the public in 2021.

Memphis Meats is one of many startups aiming to cut down on our reliance on traditional meat. Dr. Mark Post, researcher in , Netherlands, launched a company called Mosa Meats to further his work. Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat sell plant-based beef and chicken that taste eerily similar to the real thing.

They're all hoping to disrupt America's $200 billion meat industry (and $48 billion poultry industry), by offering foods that mimic meat but are more environmentally friendly.

Meat production is harsh on the planet. Globally, traditional livestock farming accounts for about 18% of greenhouse emissions, uses 47,000 square miles of land annually, and exhausts 70% of the world's water.

Chicken is the most popular protein in the country. The average American ate about 90 pounds of poultry in 2016, according to the USDA. The UN

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