Dana Hunnes says FDA’s approval of lab-grown meat is a step in a better direction | Sustainable LA Grand Challenge

Katerina Jowid
November 21, 2022
SLAGC News and Events

Publication: Healthline

UCLA Expert: Dana Ellis Hunnes: Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Community Health Sciences; Chair Advisor, UCLA Medical Center Wellness Committee

Synopsis: This November the FDA approved lab-grown meat, after it met major safety requirements.

UCLA News: Hunnes expects that it will be a while before lab-grown meat is scalable and affordable for the average person. “With that said, it is moving in a better direction from a welfare, environmental standpoint, and perhaps even nutritional standpoint if you can add to the ‘meat’ whatever nutritional profile you want,” Hunnes told Healthline. “There is no need for antibiotic use in lab-grown meat because there is no contamination from the intestinal pathogens of other animals, so in that sense, it would be a little better… From an environmental standpoint, this will be far better for the environment — once it is fully scaled up — than raising 100 million or so cattle each year for slaughter.”