Upside Foods and Good Meat yesterday became the first U.S. companies to win federal approval to begin selling lab-grown chicken, Alan writes.

Why it matters: The sign-off from the U.S. Department of Agriculture makes the U.S. only the second country, after Singapore, to approve sales of meat made in a lab instead of a farm.

The latest: The USDA cleared the way for restaurants to begin serving "cell-cultivated chicken" from rival California startups Upside Foods and Good Meat.

• Upside says its chicken will be on the menu at Bar Crenn in San Francisco.
• Good Meat will be served at a yet-to-be-named José Andrés restaurant in D.C.

Yes, but: It'll be years before either company's lab-grown chicken is available on store shelves.

• The USDA granted "label approval" for food service and distribution.
• The agency will need to approve a retail label, an Upside spokesperson tells Axios.

Between the lines: The "cell-cultivated" label is a win for such startups, which fought efforts by conventional meat companies to apply terms like "lab-grown" or entirely bar the use of words such as "chicken."

• Upside and Good Meat are the first to finish the review process by both the USDA and the Food and Drug Administration.
• A USDA spokesperson declined to disclose how many other companies are seeking similar label approval.

By the numbers: Investment in alternative proteins sagged in Q1 as food-tech dealmaking fell 40% from Q1 2022, per PitchBook.

• Upside Foods has raised $608 million, a spokesperson tells Axios.
• Good Meat's parent company, Eat Just, has raised about $800 million.

Of note: Meat and dairy production generate about 14.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions, per the UN.

The other side: At least one study has raised doubts whether lab-grown meat is better — and found that it may in fact be worse.