For cell cultured meats, which agency would oversee final products including cultured fish cells?

• A. FDA
• B. FSIS
• C. CDC
• D. EPA

Answer: (A)

The main idea is who regulates the safety of novel foods produced through cell culture. For cultured meat, including products made from cultured fish cells, the agency that would oversee the final product is the FDA. This is because FDA has primary authority over foods produced by biotechnology and the safety of new food ingredients and production processes, such as cell lines, growth media, and bioreactor culture methods. FDA’s role covers evaluating the safety of the product before it reaches consumers and ensuring proper labeling and information about the cultured product.

FSIS focuses on traditional meat and poultry slaughter facilities and finished conventional meat products, which is a different regulatory path. CDC handles disease surveillance and outbreak response, not product safety regulation. EPA deals with environmental contaminants and pesticides. In the context of a novel, cell-culture–derived food, FDA is the appropriate lead regulator for final product safety and compliance.