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Can Lab-Grown Meat Be Kosher or Halal? What Religious Authorities Have Said

What rabbis and Islamic scholars have said about cell-cultivated meat, whether anything sold in the U.S. is certified, and how you would know. As of October 2026.

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Key takeaway: As of October 2026, several major Jewish and Islamic authorities have said cell-cultivated meat can be kosher or halal, but only under conditions that differ between them. A ruling is not a certification, so look for a certifier's name or symbol on the specific product and check with the certifier and your own religious authority.

Updated October 18, 2026

Cell-cultivated meat, often called lab-grown or cultivated meat, is grown from animal cells instead of coming from a slaughtered animal. That raises new questions for people who keep kosher or eat halal. Here is what major religious authorities have said as of October 2026, whether any product sold in the U.S. is certified, and how you would know.

Please note: Religious rulings on this topic differ, many come with conditions, and none of them is the last word. Scholars are still discussing it. This article reports what others have said; it doesn't endorse or reject any ruling. For a decision about your own diet, ask the rabbi, imam or religious authority you follow.

Real Meat Directory uses "real meat" as its own shorthand for meat from raised or harvested animals. Cell-cultivated products are grown from real animal cells, but they fall outside the directory by our definition, whether or not they are certified kosher or halal. That is a choice about the directory's scope, not a judgment about the products.

Why cultivated meat raises new questions

Kosher and halal rules both cover which animals may be eaten, how they are slaughtered and how blood is handled. Cultivated meat changes the starting point, so religious scholars have focused on a few questions:

  • The source animal. Is the species permitted? Every authority cited below requires cells from a species that is kosher or halal to begin with, which rules out pigs in both traditions.
  • How the cells were taken. From a living animal, from an animal that was slaughtered according to religious law, or from a fertilized egg.
  • What the cells were fed. Some production has used fetal bovine serum (FBS), which is taken from the blood of unborn calves. Blood-derived and pig-derived ingredients are a central concern in the halal rulings below.
  • Meat or not? For kosher, whether the result counts as meat (fleishig) or as neither meat nor dairy (pareve), which decides whether it may be eaten with dairy.
  • Supervision. Whether a trusted authority oversaw the whole process.

Kosher: what rabbinic authorities have said

Orthodox Union (OU)

In a June 2024 interview in the OU's Jewish Action magazine, Rabbi Menachem Genack, CEO of OU Kosher, set out the OU's position:

  • Cells from a non-kosher animal make a non-kosher product, so the OU considers cultivated bacon not kosher.
  • Taking cells from a living animal raises the prohibition on eating part of a live animal (eiver min hachai). The OU's position is that the cells must come from a kosher animal slaughtered under reliable kosher supervision.
  • The OU's advisers disagreed on whether the result is meat. Rabbi Asher Weiss holds that it is identical to meat. Rabbi Hershel Schachter holds that it is meat on a rabbinic level, like poultry. After consultation, the OU takes the stricter position that lab-grown meat is meat on a Biblical level.

SuperMeat (2023). In September 2023, OU Kosher announced that the chicken cell line of SuperMeat, an Israeli company, meets its mehadrin (strictest) kosher meat standard. The cells are taken from fertilized chicken eggs before blood spots appear, so no slaughter is involved. The OU and SuperMeat said they would then review the full supply chain and production process. News outlets reported this as the OU certifying lab-grown meat, and the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported it as kosher meat, not pareve. In the June 2024 interview, however, Rabbi Genack said the OU had not yet decided whether chicken grown from egg cells is pareve or meat. We could not find a finished SuperMeat product on sale with an OU symbol as of October 2026.

Israel's Chief Rabbi David Lau (2023)

In January 2023, Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi David Lau issued a ruling for Aleph Farms, an Israeli company that grows beef from cells taken from a fertilized egg (embryonic cells). He ruled that its product is kosher. He said it could be pareve as long as it is marketed as a meat alternative and its other ingredients are supervised. But if it is marketed as meat, especially if it looks, tastes and smells like meat, it should not be eaten with dairy, and it should not be marketed with dairy products. The ruling covered Aleph Farms' process, not all cultivated meat. A USDA Foreign Agricultural Service report noted that actual kosher certification is done for a production facility by a certifying body, which reviews the methods and ingredients.

Conservative movement (Rabbinical Assembly)

The Rabbinical Assembly's Committee on Jewish Law and Standards, which guides the Conservative movement, approved a responsum by Rabbi Daniel Nevins in 2017. It says cultivated meat from a kosher species, grown with plant-based or synthetic kosher-certified ingredients under supervision, can be kosher. It also says taking cells from a living animal is not prohibited as eating part of a live animal, because the original cells are not what people eat. It concludes the product should be treated as meat under rabbinic law, not as pareve.

On May 13, 2026, the same committee approved a responsum on cultivated chicken by a vote of 20-0. It says cultivated chicken grown from chicken cells is kosher if the growth medium contains only kosher, non-dairy ingredients, that kosher slaughter is not needed, and that it should be considered meat. The committee notes that individual rabbis may interpret and apply Jewish law for their own communities.

Where they differ. The OU requires kosher slaughter of the source animal when cells come from an animal. The Conservative committee does not. Rabbi Lau allowed a pareve status under strict conditions, while the OU and the Conservative committee treat the product as meat.

Halal: what Islamic authorities have said

Saudi scholars advising GOOD Meat (2023)

In September 2023, three Saudi scholars, Sheikh Abdullah AlManea, Professor Abdullah al-Mutlaq and Professor Saad Al-Shathry, reviewed documents from GOOD Meat (the cultivated-meat arm of Eat Just) about how its product is made. Their opinion was given to the company. They said cultivated meat can be halal if:

  • the cells come from an animal Muslims may eat, such as chicken or cattle;
  • that animal was slaughtered according to Islamic law;
  • the nutrients fed to the cells are permissible, with no spilled blood, alcohol, pig-derived material or material from improperly slaughtered animals; and
  • specialists, such as a national food regulator, confirm it is safe to eat.

Smithsonian Magazine reported that GOOD Meat's chicken did not meet this standard at the time, because its cells came from a chick embryo.

Singapore: MUIS fatwa (2024)

On February 3, 2024, the Fatwa Committee of the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (MUIS) found that, if the right conditions are met, cultivated meat is generally halal. The conditions: the cells must come from animals that are halal to eat, every ingredient that makes up the product must be halal, and the product must be non-toxic and clean. A MUIS official said halal certification would need more: traceability of the cells, a facility free of non-halal materials, testing and proper labeling. MUIS said it would develop certification guidelines and keep monitoring developments.

South Korea: Korean Muslim Federation (2025)

In March 2025, the Korean Muslim Federation was reported to have issued a fatwa saying cultivated meat can be halal if its sourcing and production meet halal standards, with a thorough inspection required before certification.

International Islamic Fiqh Academy (2025)

The International Islamic Fiqh Academy of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation adopted Resolution No. 265 at its session in Doha, Qatar, on May 4–8, 2025. It says consuming and marketing cultivated meat is permissible if:

  • the cells come from an animal that is lawful to eat if alive, or from an animal slaughtered according to Islamic law where slaughter is required;
  • the cells are not grown in a prohibited medium, such as flowing blood, and contain no prohibited substances, such as pig-derived gelatin; and
  • a credible, specialized authority supervises the whole process.

The resolution also says companies must disclose the information consumers need, the product must be safe, and cultivated meat should be used alongside conventional meat, not as a replacement for it.

Malaysia: National Fatwa Committee (2025)

Malaysia's National Fatwa Committee discussed cultivated meat at its meeting on September 23–26, 2025. Its ruling, published on the portal of the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (JAKIM), says cultivated meat is permissible if the cells come from a halal animal that was slaughtered and the growth medium is from halal sources. It is forbidden if the cells come from a halal animal that was not slaughtered, from a forbidden animal, or if the medium or other biological ingredients come from forbidden or impure sources. The ruling names serum from flowing blood, and growth factors, hormones and enzymes taken from blood, as well as gelatin from such sources.

Academic research

A review by researchers at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, published in the Saudi Journal of Biological Sciences (2023), concluded that cultivated meat is acceptable to Muslims only if the cells, growth medium and scaffolding materials all come from halal sources. It flagged growth media made from animal blood as a problem.

Common threads. The halal rulings above agree on a halal source species, no blood-based or pig-derived ingredients, and trusted supervision. They differ on details, such as whether cells may come from a living animal or must come from one that was slaughtered.

Is any cultivated product sold in the U.S. certified kosher or halal?

As of its February 2026 update, the FDA lists five cultivated products that have completed its pre-market safety consultation: chicken from GOOD Meat, UPSIDE Foods and Believer Meats, salmon from Wildtype, and pork fat from Mission Barns. Completing the consultation does not mean a product is on sale. Here is what we found as of October 2026:

  • UPSIDE Foods: A guide for restaurant staff on its website, dated September 2026, says "We earned our Halal certification in 2026!" and says its chicken is not currently certified kosher. We could not find which organization issued the halal certification or an announcement from the certifier. If this matters to you, ask the seller which certifier it is and check with that certifier.
  • GOOD Meat: Its FAQ says its products are not yet certified kosher and that it is exploring halal certification.
  • Wildtype and Mission Barns: We found no kosher or halal certification. Mission Barns' product is pork fat, and pigs are not a permitted species under kosher or halal rules, so none of the rulings above would cover it.

The SuperMeat and Aleph Farms rulings described above concern Israeli companies whose products are not on the FDA list.

Would you know? Reading labels in the U.S.

Would you know it's cultivated?

Every label for cell-cultured meat or poultry must be approved by USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) before use; these products can't use the "generic" approval many ordinary meat labels get. The first approved term, in June 2023, was "cell-cultivated chicken." FSIS began writing specific labeling rules in 2021, and as of October 2026 we found no final rule. Many states also have their own labeling laws requiring terms such as "cell-cultivated," "cell-cultured" or "lab-grown." See the state table on our Meat Laws page. Cultivated seafood is overseen by the FDA rather than FSIS. In a restaurant, if the menu doesn't say, ask.

Would you know it's kosher or halal?

  • USDA does not certify kosher or halal. Religious certification comes from religious authorities and certifying organizations.
  • Look for the certifier. Under FSIS policy, a "certified kosher" or "certified halal" claim on meat or poultry requires a current certificate, and the label must name the certifier or its website. Look for that name or symbol on the package.
  • Check with the certifier. Contact the certifier or check its website to confirm the specific product is covered. If it matters to you whether a kosher product counts as meat or pareve, ask the certifier, since authorities disagree.
  • A ruling is not a certificate. A fatwa, rabbinic ruling or scholars' opinion sets out conditions. Certification applies to a specific product and facility.

The bottom line

As of October 2026, major Jewish and Islamic authorities, including the Orthodox Union, Israel's Chief Rabbi, the Conservative movement's law committee, MUIS, Malaysia's National Fatwa Committee and the International Islamic Fiqh Academy, have said cultivated meat can be kosher or halal under certain conditions. Their conditions differ, the discussion is ongoing, and most cultivated products are not certified. Your own rabbi, imam or religious authority is the best guide for what you eat.

For more on how these products are regulated, see "Cell-Cultivated" and "Plant-Based" on U.S. Labels and the kosher and halal section of How to Read Meat Labels.

Sources

Sources checked October 2026.

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Related: Find real meat by state · Meat laws by state · Informational videos

This page is general educational information, not legal, medical, or nutritional advice. Regulations differ by country and state and change over time. Check current official sources. Links to outside websites are provided for information only; Real Meat Directory is not affiliated with or endorsed by these organizations.

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