Lab-grown salmon has been cleared for sale in the United States. “Wildtype’s ‘cultured’ salmon is made in a lab from a few cells. In May 2025, the FDA approved Wildtype’s salmon for commercial sale, paving the way for the world’s first commercial sales of cell-based seafood,” notes Ada Palmer.
AFN reports:
San Francisco-based Wildtype will be the first company to launch cultivated seafood in the US after securing an FDA ‘no questions’ letter regarding the safety of its cell cultured salmon. Wildtype is the fourth cultivated-protein producer to complete a US pre-market scientific and safety consultation after UPSIDE Foods, GOOD Meat, and Mission Barns, and the third to have full approval to sell…
It will debut its wares at the James Beard award-winning Haitian restaurant Kann in Portland, Oregon, on Thursday nights in June, then every day starting in July, before expanding into four additional restaurants.
In the U.S., cultivated meat and poultry is regulated by the FDA and USDA under a joint regulatory framework. For cultivated seafood, however, the FDA has sole jurisdiction.
In a letter to Wildtype dated May 28, the FDA said it had no further questions regarding the startup’s conclusion that its cultivated salmon is “as safe as comparable foods produced by other methods.”…The cells used used to establish Wildtype’s cell lines were originally isolated from coho salmon from a Washington state hatchery at the “fry stage” of development, shortly after the fish hatch from the egg.
The mesenchymal cells, which are capable of dividing and developing into multiple cell types such as fat, muscle, and connective tissue cells, are adapted to grow in liquid suspension culture without having to attach to a surface….
The total fat content and amino acid content is lower in the harvested cell material versus conventional coho salmon, which is due to the absence of protein-rich extracellular structures found in conventional salmon products. Relative levels of minerals were similar, with “modest decreases in the levels of iron, magnesium, potassium, and selenium in the harvested cell material.”
