The North American Meat Institute and the Alliance for Meat, Poultry and Seafood Innovation, an industry coalition representing the makers of cell-based/cultured meat, poultry and seafood today sent a joint letter to the USDA, calling on the agency to support mandatory labeling of cell-based/cultured meat and poultry products and to solicit input on what that labeling should look like through an Advance Notice of Public Rulemaking.

Under a joint framework for regulation of cell-based/cultured meat, poultry and seafood products, which was agreed to by USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in March 2019, the two agencies will work together to ensure the safety and labeling of cell-based/cultured meat and poultry products. Among other provisions of the framework, FSIS will have oversight of the labeling of cell-based/cultured meat and poultry, as it does for all meat and poultry sold in the United States, while the FDA will oversee the labeling of cell-based/cultured seafood, as it does for most seafood sold in the United States.

In a recent public presentation, the agencies committed to joint principles for product labeling and labeling claims. Today's letter does not address seafood specifically, but it was shared with the FDA to support the continued collaboration between the two agencies' responsibilities and processes. Separately, on Oct. 6 the FDA issued a Request for Information regarding the labeling of cell-based/cultured seafood products.

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