Aleph Farms calls on USDA to promote clean meat

Aleph Farms, a global firm that specialises in producing clean meat, believes USDA can minimise consumer exposure to unsafe agricultural products, including meat.

The call comes in response to the US Cattlemen’s Association sending a petition to USDA to restrict the terms ‘beef’ and ‘meat’ only to slaughtered animal-based products.

The cattlemen’s petition claimed that clean meat products were likely to become more “prevalent in the marketplace” ​and “take away market share from farmers​.”

“In recent years, USDA has implemented new proactive policies to reduce pathogens in animal products​,” said Aleph Farms CEO Didier Toubia. “The innovation of clean meat is a natural development in line with USDA policies to reduce exposure to pathogens. Most meat is contaminated during the slaughter process, and clean meat eliminates this risk​.

However, Toubia added that given the forecast worldwide protein shortage, the business trusted that there was plenty of room in the market for all.

“We understand this is a sensitive issue for the cattlemen, but at Aleph Farms, we see the introduction of clean meat as an industry-wide opportunity, rather than a threat​.”

Since the clean meat movement began, a number of businesses have implicated restrictions on the use of antibiotics, including the Food and Drug Administration, who last year banned antibiotics solely for animal-growth promotion.

The New York Times​ reported that despite the Food and Drug Administration’s restraints on antibiotics, 70-80% of US antibiotics sales still go to livestock.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 400,000 US residents became ill with infections caused by antibiotic-resistant foodborne bacteria.

The antibiotic-free debate has swept the world over the past 12 months, with Russia, Ukraine and Estonia the most recent markets raising concerns​ over antibiotic use in meat.