Believer Meats Gets USDA Approval for Cultivated Chicken and World’s Largest Cell-Based Meat Facility

Courtesy: Believer Meats

Believer Meats has officially cleared the final regulatory hurdle to bring its cultivated chicken to market in the United States. The Israel-founded food tech pioneer announced it has received approval from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for both its product label and its 200,000-square-foot production facility in Wilson, North Carolina, a milestone that allows full commercial manufacturing and sales of its cultivated poultry in the U.S. and abroad.

From FDA to USDA: Full Regulatory Clearance for Cultivated Chicken

This authorization follows an earlier “No Questions” letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), completing the dual-agency review required for cell-cultured meat. With both federal approvals in place, Believer Meats becomes the fifth company cleared to sell cultivated meat in the U.S., joining Upside Foods, GOOD Meat, Wildtype, and Mission Barns, and notably, the first non-U.S. startup to achieve this milestone.

Founded in 2018 by Hebrew University professor Yaakov Nahmias, Believer Meats, previously known as Future Meat Technologies, has built its reputation on developing efficient, cost-effective cell-cultivation processes designed for scale. The company grows fibroblast cells from fertilized chicken eggs in serum-free media within bioreactors optimized for continuous production. This closed-loop approach enables daily harvests of cultivated biomass, reducing waste, water use, and cost.

Scaling Sustainable Protein in North Carolina

Believer’s Wilson, North Carolina, plant, built with a $123 million investment, is now the world’s largest cultivated meat facility. The 200,000-square-foot complex features an innovation center and tasting kitchen and will produce up to 12,000 tonnes of cultivated chicken per year.

CEO Gustavo Burger called the USDA approval “a major milestone that authorizes us to begin commercial production and sales of our cultivated chicken products in the U.S. and export to international markets,” adding that it represents “a breakthrough for the future of food.”

The company’s patented bioreactor assembly system, inspired by Ford’s assembly line, can expand up to 130 billion cells per litre, achieving a yield of 43% weight per volume. This continuous-flow process could bring production costs down to around $6.20 per pound, comparable to USDA organic chicken.

A Turning Point for the Cultivated Meat Industry

Despite political pushback in several U.S. states, 2025 has been a landmark year for cultivated meat regulation. Believer Meats joins a growing list of global approvals, from Australia’s Vow to Singapore’s Parima, showing that lab-grown meat is rapidly advancing toward mainstream availability.

“With both FDA and USDA regulatory milestones behind us, we’re one step closer to bringing cultivated meat to consumers worldwide and to advancing our mission to lead food innovations that care for the planet,” said Burger.

Believer Meats’ next move will be to bring its cultivated chicken to select U.S. markets, marking a crucial test for whether consumers, and the broader food system, are ready to embrace the next generation of sustainable protein.