Source: POLITICO'S MORNING AGRICULTURE, 10/5/18

Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue on Thursday suggested that USDA and FDA are likely to have joint jurisdiction over the burgeoning cell-cultured meat sector — perhaps the clearest signal yet of where this ongoing regulatory turf battle is headed — but he also made some interesting comments about his views on the technology.

"The main thing is we don't want this new technology to feel like they've got to go offshore or outside the United States to get a fair regulatory protocol," Perdue told reporters at a North American Meat Institute event.

Of note: The comment is likely to be particularly interesting to the startups in this space, which have worried that USDA is likely to put its thumb on the scales against cell-based meat technology at the behest of parts of the meat industry that hate the very idea of the sector.

Embrace tech: Perdue shared his thoughts about the technology earlier this week as well in an interview with Organic Insider. The secretary was asked about organic farmers being upset about competing with large hydroponic production that can be labeled as organic, even though it doesn't use soil. In his response, Perdue brought up the meat industry and cell-based technology.

"It shouldn't be the competitive. Just like the meat industry," he said. "We've got new technology with stem cell protein growth there. While some people may be anxious about taking their markets, shouldn't we in the United States be about how we can grow and feed people more efficiently and more effectively ... these techniques need to be embraced, not kept out of."