Can Meat From a Lab Be Kosher or Halal? Some Say Yes.

The corporations that develop meat from cultured cells current their providing as an environmentally pleasant and moral different to consuming protein from slaughtered chickens, cows and different livestock.

And as they appear to attraction to followers of Islamic and Jewish traditions, they’re additionally attempting to make the case that the cultivated meat may be halal and kosher.

Strictly observant Muslims and Jews is not going to eat meals with out these spiritual certifications. The guidelines for every are distinct however overlap in some methods. For instance, the animals should be slaughtered in particular methods and the meat should include no hint of blood. Some meals, similar to pork, should not allowed.

GOOD Meat, a California-based cultivated meat producer, commissioned three of Shariah students to find out if lab-made meat might be halal, and the group got here to the conclusion earlier this month that it was attainable.

Also this month, TremendousMeat, a Tel Aviv-based cultivated meat firm, introduced that it acquired certification from Orthodox Union Kosher, often known as OU Kosher, the world’s largest kosher certification company.

Lab-grown meat might quickly start to make it to customers’ tables after the Department of Agriculture gave approval in June to GOOD Meat, and one other lab-meat firm UPSIDE Foods, to supply cell-cultured poultry merchandise. The course of to make cultivated meat begins with a cell line that’s obtained from animals and replicated. (For this cause, it received’t fulfill the moral considerations of vegans who refuse to make use of any animal merchandise.)

The cells are put right into a bioreactor, a chrome steel vessel that gives the power and heat wanted for progress. The cells are immersed in vitamins, together with amino acids and nutritional vitamins, much like what the animal would have been fed, in accordance with GOOD Meat.

Mohammad Hussaini, vp of worldwide Halal affairs for the American Halal Foundation, a serious certifier that audits merchandise and amenities for compliance with halal requirements, stated that extra meat-cultivating corporations have been searching for out his group’s experience within the final yr.

Since lots of the corporations are early levels, he has but to see any efficiently make halal merchandise.

“There’s interest, but nobody has got it right just yet,” Mr.Hussaini said.

There is also incentive for companies to adhere to kosher standards because those products are popular among a wide range of consumers, said Avrom Pollak, president of Star-K, a Maryland-based kosher certification agency.

“If it’s kosher-certified, some Muslims — not all Muslims — will accept it,” Dr. Pollak said. “Even with the general public there’s a perception out there that when something is kosher-certified, it has enhanced value.”

Meeting the requirements to be kosher or halal calls for some care to match different sets of rules documented in the traditions’s religious texts and their adherents’ practices around the world.

Halal is Arabic for permissible or lawful. Halal food needs to adhere to Islamic law in how its sourced, processed and prepared. Some foods are forbidden in both traditions, such as the flesh of pigs or products containing blood.

The group working with the GOOD Meat company consists of advisers to the Royal Court in Saudi Arabia and professors, also based in that kingdom. It announced on Sept. 10 that cultivated meat could be deemed halal if it met specific criteria:

• The cell line it is derived from is from an animal that is permissible to eat, such as a chicken or a cow. Animals such as pigs and reptiles are prohibited.

• The cell line comes from an animal that has been slaughtered in accordance with Islamic legislation, which says it needs to be carried out by a Muslim of “sound mind” who would minimize the animal’s throat with a clear and sharp knife.

• The nutrients fed to the cells do not include any substances that are forbidden to be eaten such as spilled blood, alcohol or materials taken from animals that have not been slaughtered properly or pigs.

• The cultivated meat is edible and it does not cause harm to one’s health.

Those principles could help the company to develop a standard for its products, Josh Tetrick, the co-founder and chief executive officer of GOOD Meat, said.

“This ruling for us impacts how we think about building our process,” Mr. Tetrick said. “From now on, we want to develop cell lines that are meeting that criteria laid out.”

As the Muslim population grows, so does its meat consumption, Mr. Tetrick said, and he doesn’t want exclude the millions of people who eat halal food.

The world halal meat market was valued at $202 billion in 2021 and is estimated to achieve $375 billion by 2030, in accordance with Straits Research, an India-based market analysis agency.

Mr. Hussaini, who is not affiliated with the panel commissioned by GOOD Meat, said he believes there is a potential for cultivated meats to be considered halal.

“There is a path to it as we understand the current international standards and the theological opinions,” he said.

Some within the business imagine that the kosher market additionally presents a chance for the lab-grown meat. There are about 12.35 million kosher customers within the United States, in accordance with Star-Ok.

To be considered kosher, meat must come from animals slaughtered by a person trained in how to butcher animals according to Jewish laws, which involves removing forbidden parts and also bans consuming pigs and other animals, according to OU Kosher.

SuperMeat bypassed the slaughtering rules completely by using a cell line from a fertilized egg. This is how the company was able to meet kosher meat’s Mehadrin standards, which is the most stringent level of kosher supervision, said Ido Savir, CEO of SuperMeat.

The company is also in talks with halal-certification agencies, but its line of chicken products is still in the early stages and not available commercially. The company is looking to partner with other meat producers to supply them with cultivated meat. It expects to start selling its meat at the end of 2024 or early 2025 in the United States.

Overall, Mr. Savir is hoping that the accreditation from the certification agency will help garner trust from consumers to try a largely novel product.

Even with certification, consumers may hesitate. Adnan Durrani, the CEO and founder of Saffron Road, a Connecticut-based halal food brand, doesn’t anticipate selling cultivated meats. They seem heavily processed, he said, which he doesn’t think would appeal to his customers, who have motivations besides religious beliefs.

“Our consumers are very dedicated to natural, organic products that are clean,” Mr. Durrani said. “I don’t think they have much interest in it from what I’ve seen.”