'Lab Grown Meat' Sold in Alabama? Nope! Here's the Real Dish...

You've probably seen the posts on social media that claim the Aldi grocery store chain is selling "meat grown in a lab." Last week, I saw two posts in particular shared widely in Alabama. One post shows some strange looking raw chicken and another post shows a package of bacon, both supposedly from Aldi and both warning customers that the product is "lab grown." A lot of people are taking this issue very seriously. Is the "lab grown meat hysteria" in Alabama justified? Here's the truth you need to know about these viral posts.

Photo byWoman photo by Pressfoto on Freepik, collage by April Killian

Bring Home the Bacon

Let's tackle the bacon post first - because nobody wants fake bacon! First of all, the post being passed around about bacon from Aldi has a serious error in it. It claims that the bacon sold at Aldi is from a company called "Appleton Meats." It then goes on to say that Appleton Meats is a company that develops and sells lab-grown meat. While there actually is a Canadian company called Appleton Meats that tried to become a source for lab-grown meat a couple of years ago, it is NOT the same company that produces bacon for Aldi. Aldi carries bacon and other sandwich meats from Appleton Farms, not Appleton Meats. Appleton Farms is an American-based company that supplies real meat products from real livestock. It is also one of the oldest continuously operating farms in the U.S.. There is nothing lab-grown about the Appleton Farms products sold at Aldi. Bring home the bacon from Aldi —it's perfectly safe and legit!

Viral post on social mediaPhoto byUnknown (contributed)

Chicken Little

Remember the story we all read when we were kids about a character named Chicken Little? He whipped the whole barnyard up into a frenzy of fear by proclaiming, "The sky is falling! The sky is falling!" Did we learn nothing from this story as children? I guess not. The photo of raw chicken in this fearmongering post being passed off as "fake meat from Aldi" is weird looking - but, it's not "lab grown meat" or fake chicken. It's simply raw chicken with what is commonly called "freezer burn." Chicken meat can become dehydrated when frozen at too low a temperature or left frozen too long. This can give the meat a "stringy" appearance. What's more, we have no idea if the meat in this photo is actually from Aldi....but, I can assure you that Aldi is not selling "fake chicken" and here's why...

Viral post on social mediaPhoto byUnknown (contributed)

The Real Dish on Lab Grown Meat

There is one company in the UK called Higher Steaks that has produced lab grown bacon. Their product is not approved or available for sale in the U.S. There are currently two companies in the U.S. that have USDA approval to create and sell lab grown chicken: Good Meat and Upside Foods. Currently, it's on a very small scale and the meat they produce is only available in two small restaurants in the U.S., not in stores. That's because those companies do not currently have the capacity to supply the meat to any chain of grocery stores such as Aldi. What's more, the USDA already has stringent rules in place that the lab grown meat, should it ever become available in stores, must be clearly labeled as "cell cultivated" We may see "lab grown meat" in the future in stores, but for now, your bacon and chicken from Aldi is traditional meat - sourced the old fashioned way from a farm or stockyard!

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