With certain states pushing for more stringent laws and restrictive access to abortion in the wake of SCOTUS’ Roe v. Wade ruling, that conversation is getting ever more heated, with critics suggesting some changes could put lives at risk.

Embedded in this debate is a claim that has been circulating for around a decade and has again resurfaced, suggesting that “fetal tissue” is, in fact, being used in commercial food production.

The Claim

A tweet posted on November 28, 2022, claims that “aborted fetal tissue” was being used by “Senomyx, a California-based company” as “flavour enhancers used in food products are below a certain threshold, so they don’t need to be reported or safety-tested by the FDA.”

The tweet, which has received more than 13,000 engagements, went on to claim that the flavoring was used by Pepsi.

The Facts

The quality, sourcing and nutritional value of consumer foods is a long-standing concern of many Americans, with years of reporting and research showing the harms that lax regulation, dubious ingredients and careless cost-cutting can cause.

However, the notion that “fetal tissue” is being used as a flavor enhancer is absolutely unfounded, though it isn’t new.

This claim goes back at least as far as 2011, tied to a dispute between Senomyx and pro-life group Children of God for Life, and has been the subject of multiple fact-checks since then.

The central argument, made by Children of God for Life, was that Senomyk used Human Embryonic Kidney 293 cells (HEK 293) in flavor development.

HEK 293 is a cell line, used in Biopharma and medical research, which is derived from human embryonic kidney cells grown in tissue culture. The source of these cells was cultured from a healthy aborted fetus in 1973, and has been used for a number of purposes, including in cell biology and cancer research.

Fetal tissue, however, has never been used as a flavor enhancer. A 2021 article by Politifact states Senomyx used the HEK 293 cell line to function as a mouth’s taste receptor cells, which allowed the company to test hundreds of substances.

This is not the same, as the tweet claims, as using fetal tissue as a flavor enhancer. Crucially, newly aborted fetal cells or tissues are not being used in food production. Clones of the HEK 293 cell line have been used in many fields of research, but they are themselves not used in or added to food.

Pepsi, which responded to Children of God for Life in 2011, stated that it was “inaccurate to suggest that tissue or cells somehow are being used as product ingredients. That’s dangerous, unethical and against the law.

“Every ingredient in every one of our products is reviewed and approved for use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.”

In 2019, the company confirmed that while it did collaborate with Senomyx, none of the research used human tissue or cell lines from embryos or fetuses.

The tweet later adds, that when Senomyx was later acquired by Swiss firm Firmenich (which is correct).

Firmenich, it claims, produced “flavourings for processed foods and beverages” and was “heavily involved in the production of plant-based ‘meats’”.

The tweet adds that Firmenich “announced a new partnership” with Microsoft to create “the perfect ’ grilled beef taste’ for plant-based ‘meats’”, adding “I’m sure I don’t need to tell you what that probably means.”

In 2020, Microsoft released an article stating that it had created the world’s first flavor “entirely with Artificial Intelligence.”

The implication appears to be that “fetal tissue” is still being used in the production of plant-based meats. As previously stated, this is not the case.

A photo of Bill Gates was used to accompany the claim about Microsoft. This is also misleading as while Gates owns around 1% of shares in Microsoft, he left the company as CEO in 2000, continued as chairman until 2014, and then left the board completely in 2020.

Newsweek has contacted Firmenich, Microsoft and Pepsi for comment.

The Ruling

False.

A cloned cell line, derived from a healthy aborted fetus nearly 50 years ago, has been used in flavor development research, but has never been used as a flavor enhancer, nor has any other fetal tissue.

This false claim has been debunked many times over since it was first shared around a decade ago, but has continued to resurface and gather significant engagement on social media.

FACT CHECK BY Newsweek’s Fact Check team