The claim: Lab-grown meat is cultivated from animal cancer cells because they grow faster
A June 26 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) claims an unsavory process is being used to create food products for consumers.
“Did you know that lab grown meat is cultivated from animal cancer cells because they grow faster?” reads the post.
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Our rating: False
The Food and Drug Administration said cancer cells are not used in the process of making cell-cultivated food. Experts told USA TODAY that stem cells are typically used because of their availability and ability to replicate. Though cancer cells can similarly grow quickly, experts said the cells are “fundamentally different.”
Same technique is used in medicine, stem cells typically used in process
The Department of Agriculture approved the sale of chicken made from animal cells for the first time in June, as the Associated Press reported. The approval allows two California companies, Upside Foods and GOOD Meat, to use the method to produce meat for restaurants and grocery stores.
Manufacturers generally use cells from the tissue of an animal to create such products, according to the FDA website.
“The claim that cancer or pre-cancerous cells are used in the process of cell-cultivated food is false,” said FDA spokesperson Veronika Pfaeffle. “The cells used in cell culture technology are selected for enhanced proliferative capacity in a bioreactor, and are not derived from or selected for the ability to form tumors in animals or humans.”
Fact check: False claim KFC is using ‘lab-grown’ meat in products
Elliot Swartz, the principal scientist at the Good Food Institute who specializes in cultivated meat, said immortalization, the cell’s ability to replicate indefinitely, is just one of six traits a cell must have in order to be considered cancerous.
He said calling immortalized cells cancerous is incorrect, echoing statements from his February Twitter thread on the topic.
“In the controlled environment of a cultivator, cells and tissues are grown in intentional ways to produce specific cuts of meat and seafood,” Swartz said in an email. “Cancer involves a transformation from a controlled to uncontrolled state. Such transformation would not occur in the production of cultivated meat. For the cells that UPSIDE Foods and Believer Meats are using, they’ve shown evidence that their cells are not transformed – i.e. not cancer and not even cancer-like.”
Joseph Freeman, a biomedical engineering professor at Rutgers University, said the process of cultivating meat generally works by taking stem cells from a host, growing them to a large number and adding other elements that prompt the cells to turn into a desired tissue, like muscle or fat. The process is outlined on websites for the FDA and the Good Food Institute, a nonprofit think tank focused on food sustainability.
The same technique has been used for decades for innovations such as lab-grown bladders and bone replacements, Freeman said.
“Now we’re just applying something that we’ve used to repair human bodies … and we’re using those for making food,” he said.
Yong Mao, a professor of chemistry and chemical biology at Rutgers University, said stem cells are beneficial for cultivating meat because of their ability to grow and morph into the desired product. Though cancer cells similarly grow at a rapid rate, Mao said they are “fundamentally different cells.”
Both Mao and Freeman said specific processes for cell-cultivated food can vary by manufacturer and that consumers should seek direct information from them before believing or sharing online claims about lab-grown products.
The Associated Press and AFP Fact Check also debunked the claim.
USA TODAY reached out to users who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Our fact-check sources:
- Good Food Institute, accessed July 11, The science of cultivated meat
- Joseph Freeman, July 11, Phone call with USA TODAY
- Veronika Pfaeffle, July 11, Email exchange with USA TODAY
- Yong Mao, July 11, Phone call with USA TODAY
- Elliot Swartz, July 10, Email exchange with USA TODAY
- FDA, March 21, Human Food Made with Cultured Animal Cells
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