US Jewish and Muslim experts say cultured meat can be kosher and halal

One of the largest producers of artificial meat, the Californian company GOOD Meat reported, that experts in Judaism and Islam it interviewed said cultured meat could be kosher and halal, respectively. GOOD reportedly convened a meeting of three sharia experts who said cultured meat could be considered halal if the animals whose cells were used to produce the cultured meat were slaughtered in accordance with sharia law and did not contain pig cells.

Among the requirements for halality is that meat from an animal that has died a natural death cannot be used, which is considered carrion. Cultured meat is made from cells taken from living animals. Company CEO Josh Tetrick noted that Islamic theologians interviewed believe that GOOD’s faux chicken does not yet fully meet all halal requirements, but provided the company with a “clear road map” to full compliance. Details have not yet been announced.

In turn, the American religious organization The Orthodox Union (OU), which issues kosher certificates, stated that the chicken produced by GOOD meets OU requirements, since when cultivating chicken cells “no animal ingredients were used, and the cells themselves were taken from chicken eggs without blood clots ” According to The Orthodox Union and Islamic Services of America, in the United States, 12 million people eat kosher food and 8 million eat halal food. Earlier, American government regulators approved artificially cultured chicken, which is already served in a number of American restaurants.

Evgeny Khvostik