From the U.S. Government Accountability Office, www.gao.gov Transcript for: Oversight of Cell-Cultured Meat Description: Companies are working on bringing lab-grown meat to restaurants and groceries. So how will the government ensure this meat is safe? Steve Morris joins the podcast to talk about the federal government's oversight role. Related GAO Work: GAO-20-325, Food Safety: FDA and USDA Could Strengthen Existing Efforts to Prepare for Oversight of Cell-Cultured Meat Released: May 2020 [ Intro Music ] [Steve Morris:] We think FDA and USDA could benefit from greater collaboration on things like clarifying specific roles and responsibilities. [Matt Oldham:] Welcome to GAO's Watchdog Report, your source for news and information from the U.S. Government Accountability Office, I'm Matt Oldham. Cell-cultured meat starts with cells from livestock, poultry, or seafood. Those cells are grown in a facility, like a lab, into meat for public consumption. As companies are working on the technology, it's looking like cell-cultured meat is headed for groceries and restaurants in coming years. And with me to talk about the federal government's plans to keep this meat safe for Americans, is Steve Morris, a Natural Resources and Environment director. Thank you for joining me, Steve. [Steve Morris:] Hi, Matt, good to be with you today. [Matt Oldham:] So it sounds like a good time to start thinking about safety and oversight in these early stages. Who's involved here? [Steve Morris:] You know, first thing I'd just like to point out is that, to make sure the audience understands that cell-cultured meat is really an important development in the production of food and has implications for agriculture, the environment, and consumers. So from a federal perspective, USDA and FDA are the key players. The USDA has traditionally been responsible for regulating the safety of meat and poultry and now catfish, while FDA's been responsible for ensuring the safety of virtually all other food, including most seafood. You know, in addition, FDA has a history of regulating cell culturing and the medical field, the growth tissues and organs, so it makes sense that they would have a key role in regulating food products that use this technology as well. [Matt Oldham:] And how is that going for FDA and USDA? Are they working well together? [Steve Morris:] Well, FDA and USDA, they're basically in the progress of figuring out that whole scheme, Matt. You know, after some initial discussions back in 2018, the agencies put together kind of a formal agreement in March 2019, that describes their intended roles and responsibilities. For example, FDA would oversee the early stages of growing cell-cultured meat, and that would include things like taking a biopsy from a live animal, creating a cell bank from those tissues and then growing those cells into some sort of product in a bioreactor, for example. So at the point where the cells are harvested and it's still really a bit unclear what that's going to look like or at what point that's going to occur, FDA would then transfer oversight to USDA. USDA would then assume the lead role here in terms of food processing and basically where a product, like a meatball or a chicken nugget, might be made into cells that were harvested, USDA would basically have that primary role of oversight. FDA, USDA, they've established working groups to basically figure out things like, you know, how to best ensure the proper labeling of cell-cultured meat before it's made available to the public. [ Background Music ] [Matt Oldham:] So it sounds like FDA and USDA do have plans to collaborate on regulating the safety of this cell cultured meat. There have been some roles at different steps in the process that they've agreed on. But there may be some areas, whether it's overlap or when to hand off responsibility, that haven't been fully fleshed out. Steve, what could they do to improve their collaboration? [Steve Morris:] You know, we think FDA and USDA could benefit from greater collaboration on things like clarifying specific roles and responsibilities. And so, you know, greater collaboration, you know, we think from our perspective should help the agencies minimize potential fragmentation you mentioned and also the overlap in their effort. And you know, we've been saying for years that minimizing fragmentation and overlap is really important because it helps ensure consistent oversight, more efficiently and effectively use resources and, at the end of the day, it helps to make sure that cell cultured meat is safe for the consumer. We also mentioned, Matt, that to avoid, you know, potential confusion amongst industry and the public, that FDA and USDA, could do a better job of communicating that FDA would be responsible for ensuring the safety of cell-cultured seafood. [Matt Oldham:] The final question; what's the bottom line of this report, Steve? [Steve Morris:] Well, Matt, you know cell-cultured meat, it's not here yet, but it may be available to consumers in the pretty near future. You know, we'd say FDA and USDA are working hard in terms of figuring out oversight of this new product, but they really haven't figured out how they're going to work, best work together to do that. So you know, we're thinking by implementing the recommendations in our report, to improve their collaboration, you know, that really, really now's the time to do that because it's going to better position the agencies to regulate those products that are going to become a reality fairly soon. [Matt Oldham:] Steve Morris was talking about a GAO report on federal oversight of the cell-cultured meat industry. Thanks for your time, Steve. [Steve Morris:] Thanks so much, Matt. [Matt Oldham:] And thank you for listening to the Watchdog Report. To hear more podcasts, subscribe to us in Apple Podcasts. Make sure you leave a rating and review to let others know about the work we're doing. For more from the congressional watchdog, the U.S. Government Accountability Office, visit us at gao.gov.