Lab-Grown Eggs at Walmart and Target: Fact vs. Fiction for Florence Shoppers

A new kind of egg white is showing up in bakery aisles, protein bars, and salad dressings at Walmart and Target, and it never came from a hen. It's made by yeast, in a fermentation tank, not a coop.

That sounds like the setup for a scary story. It isn't one. Here's what's actually going on, and what's just internet noise.

What the product actually is

The company behind it, The EVERY Company, makes an ingredient called OvoPro. It's produced through precision fermentation: scientists insert the gene for egg-white protein into a strain of yeast called Komagataella phaffii, then let that yeast ferment and produce the protein. It's the same basic technique that's been used for decades to make things like insulin and the rennet used in most cheese.

It's worth being precise about the terminology, because a lot of viral posts blur it. This isn't the same as "cultivated meat," where animal cells themselves are grown in a lab. No animal cells are involved in OvoPro at all. Snopes fact-checked the viral "lab-grown eggs" claim this week and found the product is real and is on shelves, but flagged that calling it "lab-grown" in the cultivated-meat sense is inaccurate.

Orders for OvoPro grew 550% in early 2026 compared to all of 2025, and the company announced national placement in Walmart and Target this past June, alongside expanding manufacturing overseas to keep up with demand.

Did it skip FDA review?

Not exactly, and this is the part that gets misrepresented most.

Food ingredients in the U.S. are generally cleared through the FDA's GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe) framework, established in 1958. There are two paths:

1. Self-affirmed GRAS: a company has its own expert panel conclude a substance is safe, without ever notifying the FDA.
2. GRAS notification: a company submits its safety data to the FDA voluntarily. The agency reviews it and responds with one of three outcomes: "no questions" regarding the safety conclusion, "insufficient basis," or (if the company withdraws) "ceased evaluation."

EVERY went the second route. In 2023, the FDA responded to EVERY's GRAS notification with a formal "no questions" letter for the egg-white protein now used in OvoPro. That letter is publicly posted in the FDA's GRAS Notice Inventory (GRN 1104). It isn't secret, and it isn't the same as bypassing the agency. It is different from formal "FDA approval," which is a distinct process the agency uses for drugs, not for food ingredients like this one, and the FDA itself is candid that a "no questions" letter isn't a guarantee, just an assessment based on data the company supplied.

Roughly 400 ingredients have gone through this same notification process with a "no questions" outcome, going back to things like stevia extracts and algae-based oils. It's the standard route for new food ingredients, not a workaround invented for this product.

Is it hidden from consumers?

This is the claim that doesn't hold up. Federal law still requires the ingredient to appear on the product's ingredient list. Precision-fermentation companies don't get an exemption from labeling law. Snopes looked specifically into claims that brands were leaving OvoPro off ingredient lists and found no evidence of it. The confusion seems to have started from a company statement about how retail partners choose to market the product, not about what's printed in the ingredients panel.

What is confidential, in the ordinary business sense, is which specific retail brands are using the ingredient. That's standard supplier-retailer confidentiality, not a labeling loophole.

One nuance worth knowing: because it's made by yeast rather than through genetic modification of a plant, OvoPro generally isn't required to carry a "bioengineered food" disclosure under USDA rules, since those rules target modified crops, not fermentation-derived proteins. That's a real regulatory quirk, but it's not the same as the ingredient being invisible on the label. It still has to be named.

If you'd rather stick with real eggs

There's nothing wrong with that preference. A few practical labeling cues:

• "Real egg," "whole egg," or "liquid egg" on the ingredient panel points to an actual hen egg.
• Certified Vegan or "egg-free" labeling signals the fermentation-derived version, since it functions as an allergen-equivalent but animal-free product.
• When in doubt, the ingredient list is the reliable source, not marketing copy on the front of the package.

What Florence shoppers should know

A version of this story has been circulating on social media with much scarier framing: words like "infiltrated," "secretly," and claims that grocery chains are hiding this ingredient from customers. If you've seen that post, or someone forwarded it to you, here's the short version for folks shopping right here in Florence.

• Yes, this ingredient is likely on shelves at our local Walmart and Target. That part of the viral post is true.
• No, it isn't hidden. It has to appear on the ingredient label like anything else. If you want to avoid it, read the ingredient panel, not just the front of the box. That's good practice with any packaged food, not just this one.
• No, the FDA didn't skip a safety review. The company went through the FDA's standard voluntary process and got a "no questions" letter, the same route hundreds of other everyday ingredients have gone through.
• It's not "lab-grown" in the scary sense you might picture from science fiction. It's a protein made by yeast during fermentation, similar to how cheese-making enzymes and insulin have been produced for years. No animal cells involved.

The bottom line for Florence families: if a packaged food you already buy, like a protein bar, a baked good, or a dressing, happens to contain this ingredient, it isn't something that snuck past regulators or labeling law. If it matters to you which one is in your cart, the ingredient list will tell you, whether you're shopping at either of our local Walmart or Target locations or ordering the same item online.