There's a running joke that journalist Chloe Servino writes about,

that Labgrown Meat is just about to happen, but it's almost here.

It's a line she's heard a lot.

I didn't even really want to write about lab grown meat in this book,

and I came to this place where there was so much momentum

and there was so much money building in this book. And I came to this place where there was so much momentum and there was

so much money building in this emerging space that I felt like it had to be addressed.

Chloe's book, Raw Deal, is all about the U.S. meat industry. Lab-goat meat, aka cultivated meat,

is just a small sliver, a bite, really, of her book.

But it's something she says she couldn't ignore.

There are a lot of institutional investors and billionaires and financiers who have invested a lot of money in this

and now have a vested interest in making this come too light and get sold quickly, even when these products

are often going to be selling at a profit loss.

And just a few weeks ago, the Food and Drug Administration gave an important thumbs up to lab-grown

chicken from a company called Upside Foods, saying it had no further questions about the food safety.

This is real chicken, and so is this and this.

Except it's made in labs and commercial food production facilities instead of being raised on a farm.

Lab-grown meat has been in development for more than two decades, and while it's available in Singapore, this would be a first for the U.S.

There's only a bit more inspection to do and some work to do on how these labels will really look.

But by 2023, we're going to be probably in a place where many of these products, or at least maybe upside foods, is selling to the masses.

Today on the show, are you ready to eat lab grown meat?

I'm Lizzie O'Leary, and you're listening to What Next TBD, a show about technology, power, and how the future will be determined.

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