Israeli chef Shachar Yogev serves a burger made with “cultured chicken” meat at The Chicken, SuperMeat’s restaurant adjacent to their production site in the Israeli town of Ness Ziona on June 18, 2021. (Photo by JACK GUEZ\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The O.U., the most prominent kosher certifier in the United States, recognized poultry products from Israeli startup SuperMeat as kosher, the company announced Wednesday. The startup is part of a growing industry that aims to provide an alternative to traditional meat by creating the food in a laboratory from stem cells.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis collaboration aims to bridge the gap between scientific understanding and halachic adjudication, setting unprecedented standards in the cultivated meat industry,\u201d Rabbi Menachem Genack, the CEO of O.U. Kosher, said in a statement, using a term referring to Jewish law.<\/p>\n
The process of certifying lab-grown meat, a years-long quest for SuperMeat, demonstrated the complexity of applying Judaism\u2019s age-old dietary laws to a culinary landscape where the range of foods, and how they are produced, is expanding rapidly \u2014 from lab-grown meat to plant-based alternatives and more. It may also represent yet another increase in the number of products kosher consumers can take off supermarket shelves.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis step represents our commitment to inclusivity and respect for diverse dietary needs, making our cultivated chicken meat accessible to audiences around the world,\u201d Ido Savir, CEO of SuperMeat, said in a statement. \u201cWe believe this historic initiative with the Orthodox Union not only broadens the options for kosher consumers worldwide but will also set clear guidelines for other companies in the cultivated meat industry seeking kosher certification, opening new avenues for the Kosher food industry.\u201d<\/p>\n
The lab-grown meat industry is in its infancy and may appeal to consumers who enjoy eating meat but oppose slaughtering animals for food. It remains to be seen whether lab-grown meat produced at a mass scale will be cheaper or more environmentally sustainable than regular beef or poultry. The U.S. Department of Agriculture granted its first approval for cell-cultured meat in late June, and SuperMeat first plans to roll out its products in the United States. The company is also looking into halal certification.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe vast majority of the vegan-vegetarian movement is very supportive,\u201d SuperMeat\u2019s co-founder and CEO, Koby Barak, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in 2016. \u201cAnd we thank them for really supporting us.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the surface, kosher certification for lab-grown meat doesn\u2019t appear to herald a revolution for observant Jewish eaters, especially in places where traditional kosher animal products are already easy to find.<\/p>\n
As with regular chicken, the O.U. has certified the lab-grown variety as kosher meat, meaning that it can\u2019t be eaten with dairy products. That separates it from recent plant-based meat alternatives such as Impossible Foods or Beyond Meat, many of whose products are certified as pareve \u2014 neither meat nor dairy \u2014 meaning that they may be eaten together with all kosher foods.<\/p>\n
Plant-based meat has provided a pathway for observant Jews to eat imitations of some archetypal non-kosher foods, such as cheeseburgers or pizza with a meat topping. SuperMeat will not offer those kinds of possibilities.<\/p>\n
But Genack said that for Jews who keep a stringent form of kosher laws, SuperMeat\u2019s certification will be a boon. \u201cTheoretically, the impact on prices and availability should be significant,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s because the company\u2019s chicken products are categorized as Mehadrin kosher \u2014 the strictest form of kosher supervision. And if the O.U. moves to certify lab-grown beef as kosher, which it has yet to do, it could lead to an increase in the supply of meat that is \u201cglatt\u201d kosher, a term that refers to meat slaughtered from an animal whose lungs are smooth.<\/p>\n
The kosher seal of approval came after SuperMeat hosted two rabbinic delegations, and kosher authorities held a series of conversations on Jewish law surrounding the science used in the company\u2019s technology, the Times of Israel reported.<\/p>\n
Obtaining kosher certification for lab-grown meat is complicated because the process of cultivating meat from stem cells requires the use of living animals \u2014 and kosher law bars the consumption of any part of a living animal. Founded in 2015, SuperMeat\u2019s lab-grown poultry avoids this dilemma by acquiring stem cells from eggs rather than from the living birds themselves. And because the eggs are at an early stage of fertilization, there\u2019s no concern that blood will end up in the product, which would also be prohibited by Jewish law.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were looking for something that can be universally accepted as Mehadrin, completely kosher, and that\u2019s what taking the stem cells from the eggs represents,\u201d Genack said.<\/p>\n
The cells are planted in a meat fermenter that simulates a bird\u2019s biology. In the fermenter, the cells are provided with heat, oxygen, and plant-based liquid nourishment. They then mature into meat tissue and grow quickly, doubling in mass in just a few hours. When the meat is ready to harvest, the liquid feed is removed.<\/p>\n
Other Orthodox rabbis, such as Israeli Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi David Lau, have ruled that some lab-grown meat labeled as a meat alternative could be considered pareve. Genack said that at the Orthodox Union, there were different opinions on how lab-grown meat should be classified.<\/p>\n
But the agency decided to mark it as meat because it\u2019s derived from an animal and looks exactly like meat.<\/p>\n
Leading rabbis in the Conservative movement came to the same conclusion in 2018, ruling that lab-grown meat of kosher animals would be kosher but that disputes over its status and possible confusion meant it should be considered meat.<\/p>\n
\u201cCultured meat should be designated as \u2018meaty according to the rabbis\u2019 even though there will be no need for kosher slaughter, inspection for injury, deveining, soaking or salting to remove blood,\u201d wrote Rabbi Daniel Nevins, the author of the legal opinion on the topic that was accepted almost unanimously by the movement\u2019s law committee.<\/p>\n
Genack noted that lab-grown pork will remain off-limits because it is derived from a pig, which is not kosher. (The O.U. also declined to give certification to Impossible Pork, even though it is plant-based, because of what Genack called \u201csensitivities to the consumer.\u201d)<\/p>\n
\u201cAnything which you derive from something non-kosher itself is not kosher,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you milk a non-kosher animal, the milk is also non-kosher, because it derived from a non-kosher source. So this doesn\u2019t open that opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n
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