Source: Children’s Health Defense

Story at a glance:

• The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved lab-grown salmon from Wildtype based solely on the company’s internal safety claims — no third-party testing, animal trials or public review were ever required.
• This lab-cultivated fish is already being served in upscale restaurants, with plans to expand, even though Wildtype’s production methods and additives remain largely undisclosed.
• Wildtype used the GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) loophole, a process originally meant for well-known food ingredients, to bypass standard food safety requirements.
• The pink coloring, antibacterial agents, and cell growth promoters like FGF2 (fibroblast growth factor-2) used in this lab salmon are all proprietary — meaning you have no idea what you’re actually eating.
• Despite marketing claims about sustainability, lab-grown meats have up to 25 times the global warming potential of beef and increase your risk of inflammation and depression.

When you eat at a high-end, award-winning restaurant, it’s just normal to expect a top-notch meal made from the freshest, highest-quality ingredients you can get on the planet. So imagine sitting down and enjoying a beautiful piece of fish or sushi — only to find out that it was grown in a steel vat from lab-cultured fish cells.

Sound like science fiction? It’s not. In fact, it’s already happening, especially now that the FDA has approved lab-cultivated salmon to be sold to the public.

Most people assume that when a new food hits the market, it’s been rigorously tested, verified by independent scientists and approved through transparent, public processes. But when it comes to this fake salmon, the truth is far more unsettling.

A startup’s lab-grown salmon has received the FDA’s stamp of approval

Wildtype, a San Francisco-based ag-tech startup, has recently received approval from the FDA to market its lab-grown salmon to the public. The company, which is backed by prominent industry giants like Bezos Expeditions, Cargill and even actor Leonardo DiCaprio, is now the fourth company that received the FDA’s approval to sell lab-cultivated meats.

• Fake salmon is coming soon to your favorite restaurants — Although Wildtype’s lab-grown, sushi-grade fish is now being sold in Kann, a restaurant in Portland, Oregon, the company plans to expand soon and will be rolling out this product in four more restaurants, the Children’s Health Defense (CHD) reports. Afterward, Wildtype will launch the lab-grown seafood in food service.
• The FDA is the final (and only) authority for approving cultivated seafood — Unlike other lab-grown meats like chicken, beef, or pork, which need to be approved for sale by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, cultivated seafood manufacturers like Wildtype only need to get the FDA’s approval before they can put their products on the market.
• There’s a glaring issue with this approval — The product’s safety data was entirely generated in-house by the manufacturer. Rather than relying on third-party science or long-term studies, the FDA accepted the company’s own assessment that its cultivated salmon is “as safe as comparable foods.”

The FDA green-lights fake salmon, no questions asked

Wildtype started its research and development into lab-grown salmon in 2018. According to CEO Justin Kolbeck, his team took cells from a real salmon and experimented with different methods to “feed” them while maintaining a “healthy growing state.”

The process was challenging, since little research has been conducted on fish cell culture.

“Instead of creating a genetically modified yeast organism to create leghemoglobin — which is this iron-tasting substance that they add to plant-based ingredients — we’re actually growing the animal cells themselves,” Kolbeck said in an interview with Technology Networks.

“We needed to come up with a mix of vitamins and minerals, carbohydrates, proteins and fats in a cell feed that was tuned to these fish cells, which was no trivial matter.”

Apparently, this was enough for the FDA to deem the product safe for consumers. In a response letter released in May, the agency said it had no health and safety concerns about the company’s process, stating:

“Based on the [data and information presented] we have no questions at this time regarding Wildtype’s conclusion that foods comprised of or containing cultured salmon cell material resulting from the production process … are as safe as comparable foods produced by other methods.”

Wildtype used a common loophole to win the FDA’s approval. According to CHD, the FDA allowed the company’s claims that the additives used don’t need further testing because they fall under the agency’s “Generally Recognized as Safe” process.

However, these were originally intended for products whose safety has been established through “a substantial history of consumption for food use by a significant number of consumers.”

The GRAS exception was not designed to be used like this — products that carry GRAS need to be backed by years of safety data. But in this case, it’s based on the manufacturer’s word — nothing more.

Jaydee Hanson, policy director for the Center for Food Safety (CFS) and expert in synthetic biology, found this “outrageous.”

“The FDA is negligent, I would say, in allowing a company to use the self-approved generally recognized as safe method. And then the FDA should have developed its own new guidelines for how to test this new food,” he said.

What’s in lab-grown salmon? No one knows

To make their fake salmon product, Wildtype takes cultured cells from a living coho salmon and then cultivates them in custom-designed steel vats, similar to what is used for making beer or yogurt. According to CHD, this type of process — replicating cultured cells — is similar to what Big Pharma does to test drugs.

In this particular product, however, experts are expressing concern regarding the lack of transparency during the production and approval process. And unlike many Pharma products that undergo clinical trials before being released, this salmon skipped nearly all of those layers of scrutiny.

• The cultured cells are fed with a “proprietary cell nutrient blend.” What ingredients are added to this blend is a mystery and is something only the company’s team knows.
• The salmon itself is also made from undisclosed ingredients and water. After being harvested, the cells are placed on plant-based scaffolds. These help to replicate the look and texture of salmon. Afterward, the product is rinsed, processed, and packaged.
• Where does the pink color come from? This is another unknown. In nature, the pink hue comes from crustaceans in the salmon’s diet. But with Wildtype’s product, the coloring agent used is not divulged, and neither is the antibacterial agent that the company uses to keep the cells healthy.
• Another red flag — Wildtype uses FGF2, a synthetic protein used to accelerate cell division and create the salmon tissue. While the company claims it rinses the compound off before the fish is packaged, there’s no published data proving how much remains, or what happens if you eat trace amounts over time. Hanson expresses his concerns that this ability to make cells grow rapidly could promote cancerous cell behavior in humans.

Fake salmon is another attempt to control the food supply

At face value, fake meat sounds like the perfect solution to end world hunger, protect animal welfare and save the planet from environmental destruction. But when you look more closely, you’ll notice that there’s a disturbing factor about this trend, and it all boils down to the desire to control our food supply.

Globalists are working to replace animal husbandry with lab-grown meat. By allowing patented fake meat products to saturate the market, private companies will effectively control the entire food supply and ultimately people’s health.

Marketing claims say that lab-grown meats are “saving the planet,” when in fact, they are jeopardizing the environment. Manufacturers claim that lab-grown meats are more environmentally friendly than typical meat production, which requires land, water and fossil fuels.

However, researchers from the University of California, Davis, studied this closely and assessed that the energy needed and greenhouse gases emitted by lab-grown meat has a global warming potential that is four to 25 times greater than for beef.

Regenerative farmer Will Harris also raises this point in an episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience,” saying:

“We are sequestering 3.5 pounds of carbon dioxide equivalent for every pound of grass-fed beef we sell. Ironically, the same environmental engineers did an analysis on Impossible Burgers. They’re emitting 3.5 pounds of carbon dioxide equivalent.”

Grass-fed meats have a lower carbon footprint than lab-grown meats. The carbon footprint of beef from Harris’ regenerative farm, White Oak Pastures, is actually 111% lower than conventional CAFO (concentrated animal feeding operation) beef.

This is because the system “effectively captures soil carbon, offsetting a majority of the emissions related to beef production.”

If the goal was to safeguard the environment (in Wildtype’s case, protect the oceans), combat climate change, and optimize food production and human nutrition, then transitioning to biodynamic farming methods would be the obvious solution.

Instead, it’s made out to be the enemy of the planet and mankind. I recommend reading “Fake Meat Dangers with Dr. Joseph Mercola” for more insights into this topic.

There’s nothing healthy about fake meat

Lab-grown meats are promoted to be healthier than real meat, but the truth is that these are an ultraprocessed conglomeration of chemicals, made by pulling protein from soy, mixing it with other processed concentrates, and then using high-tech genetic engineering to create a “Frankenmeat” of sorts.

• Lab-grown meats expose you to glyphosate — The genetically engineered soy used in these products is often contaminated with the herbicide glyphosate. According to an independent testing commissioned by the consumer advocacy group Moms Across America, the total result of glyphosate and AMPA (the main metabolite of glyphosate) in the Impossible Burger is 11.3 parts per billion (ppb); in the Beyond Burger, it’s 1 ppb.
• Fake meats are loaded with the absolute worst type of fats possible — Polyunsaturated fats, high in linoleic acid, and/or monounsaturated fats, high in oleic acid are often found in these products. Case in point — A half-pound serving of organic grass-fed beef gives you less than half a gram (500 mg) of linoleic acid, but a serving of an Impossible Burger or Beyond Meat burger has 10 to 20 times that amount.
• Fake meat has been linked to a higher risk of inflammation and depression — A recent study showed that people who ate plant-based meats had worse mental health compared to those who did not eat this fake food, and had a significantly higher risk of depression. They also exhibited signs of systemic inflammation, which increases the risk of heart disease.

You can read more about the health dangers of fake meat in my article, “Eating Fake Meat Raises Your Risk of Depression and Inflammation.” The bottom line is that while fake meat and seafood like Wildtype’s lab-grown salmon can replicate the appearance, texture and flavor of real food, there’s absolutely no way any of these will be healthier, better or even equal to the real thing.

Protect yourself from unregulated lab-grown foods

Let’s face it — no sane person would be willing to be part of an untested food experiment. But when government agencies hand over the reins to companies and approve food products without sufficient safety measures in place, then you need to take matters into your own hands.

Here’s how to stay ahead of the curve, so you’ll be able to make informed food choices to protect your health:

• Prioritize whole, wild, or pasture-raised foods — If you’re unsure where your fish or meat comes from, don’t buy it. Choose wild-caught fish like Alaskan salmon or other seafood from trusted small fisheries. When it comes to land animals, stick to pasture-raised, grass-fed sources from regenerative farms. These foods not only nourish your body but also help keep you away from synthetic or genetically engineered alternatives.
• Be cautious of products that use buzzwords without transparency — “Sushi-grade,” “sustainable” and even “plant-based” are now being hijacked by companies looking to mask what they’re really selling. If you’re reading a menu or a label and it doesn’t clearly state the source — or if it sounds vague or trendy — assume it’s not something you want in your body.
• Support local producers and transparent food brands — If you value knowing what’s in your food, now’s the time to build a relationship with your local farms, co-ops, and small producers. Look for businesses that publish their testing data, list all ingredients without hiding behind “proprietary blend” language, and tell you exactly how their products are made. These are the companies that still respect you as a consumer.

FAQs about lab-grown salmon

Q: What is lab-grown salmon and how is it made?

A: Lab-grown salmon is made by culturing fish cells in steel tanks using a proprietary nutrient blend. The cells are fed, multiplied and placed on plant-based scaffolds to mimic the texture and appearance of real salmon — without using a whole fish.

Q: Did the FDA independently verify the safety of Wildtype’s salmon?

A: No. The FDA approved Wildtype’s lab-grown salmon based solely on the company’s internal safety data. There were no independent studies, animal trials or public reviews conducted before granting approval.

Q: What concerns have experts raised about this approval process?

A: Experts are alarmed that the product was approved through the GRAS loophole, which relies on the manufacturer’s word. There’s also no transparency about the ingredients used to feed the cells, color the fish or prevent bacterial contamination.

Q: Is lab-grown salmon better for the environment than traditional seafood?

A: Despite marketing claims, a University of California, Davis, study found lab-grown meat has a global warming potential four to 25 times higher than beef. Regenerative farms, by contrast, often reduce net carbon emissions.

Q: How can I avoid unregulated lab-grown foods?

A: Choose whole, wild-caught seafood and pasture-raised meat from trusted sources. Avoid vague labeling, support local farmers, and stay away from products that hide ingredients behind “proprietary” language.

Originally published by Mercola.