When can I actually buy this stuff?

The objection

“You keep talking about this future food. So where is it? I can’t buy it anywhere.”

The answer

A fair question, and the answer depends entirely on where you live. This is one area where the hype runs ahead of the shelf.

Singapore approved cultivated chicken in 2020 and has since cleared further products, making it the most open market. In the United States, the FDA and USDA cleared UPSIDE Foods and GOOD Meat in 2023, with several more companies (including cultivated salmon and pork fat) cleared since. But sales have so far been limited to a handful of restaurants, not your local supermarket. It exists, you can eat it, but availability is thin.

Then there’s the counter-current. A backlash has produced outright bans. Italy prohibited it in 2023, and US states including Florida, Texas, Alabama and Mississippi have passed laws blocking sales, some now being fought in court. In the UK and EU, it is under regulatory review and not yet approved for sale, though Britain’s regulator has set up a programme to assess it.

So the realistic picture is this: approved and (barely) on sale in a few places, banned in others, pending in most, including here. Anyone promising it on UK shelves next month is guessing. The open question is no longer “is this legal or safe?” but “which country lets you buy it first?”, and that comes down to regulation rather than the science.