So called alt-meat, cultivated from cells and grown in laboratory-like facilities, has experienced regulatory and market success in only fits and starts. But it remains enough of a threat to traditional animal agriculture. And several states are ready to save animal agriculture by banning alt-meat entirely.

Three states have already enacted laws limiting or entirely banning cultivated meat.

The first was the Florida bill signed into law on May 1 by Gov. Ron DeSantis. It makes it unlawful for any person in Florida to manufacture, hold, or offer any cultivated meat for sale or distribution.

Six days later, Alabama passed its bill banning alt-meat. It takes effect on Oct. 1.

Iowa, the third state that already acted, did so with legislation prohibiting lab-grown food from being labeled meat.

Additional states appear ready to enact bills that will give alt-meat fewer places to go.

Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen is the latest to announce that he is working with his state’s Unicameral Legislature to make the sale of lab-grown meat illegal. In the meantime, Pillen signed an executive order restricting state agencies and contractors from spending state funds on lab-grown meat.

The Nebraska governor said the executive order is a step toward a wholesale ban. He also directed the Nebraska Department of Agriculture to undertake a rule-making process to prevent cultivated meat from ever being marketed as traditional meat in the state.

Nebraska will likely become at least the fourth state to ban or severely restrict cultivated meat in 2025, but it’s unlikely to be alone.

House Bill 5872 has already been introduced for 2025 consideration in the Illinois Legislature. Rep. Chris Miller, R-Charleston, has introduced the “Illinois Cultivated Meat Act” to ban the production or sale of any alt-meat products in the state and make producing or selling cultivated meat a misdemeanor.

The Congressional Research Service is the source of an overview about alt-meat.   In part, it says:

“Cell-cultivated meat is developed in a lab, grown from a sample of animal cells that does not require the slaughter of animals. Developing cell-cultivated meat involves five steps: (1) taking a biopsy of animal cells, (2) cell banking, (3) cell growth, (4) harvesting, and (5) food processing.

“The first cell-cultivated meat product developed for human consumption was created in 2013 by a scientist from Maastricht University in the Netherlands. In 2022, the U.S. Drug and Food Administration (FDA) provided premarket review and approval for two companies, GOOD Meat and UPSIDE Foods, to sell cell-cultivated chicken in U.S. markets. 

“On June 30, 2023, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) issued the first-ever grants of inspection to the two companies to produce cell-cultivated chicken in their facilities and to label their products as ‘cell-cultivated chicken.’ 

“This was the first time that FDA and USDA regulators had approved companies to produce cell-cultivated meat products to be sold in the United States. In

In July 2023, UPSIDE Foods and GOOD Meat sold the first cell-cultured chicken at restaurants in San Francisco and Washington, DC, respectively. 

The USDA and FDA are jointly regulating the production and labeling of the new food products.  More than 150 companies worldwide are involved in the cell-cultivated meat industry, 43 of which are in the United States. The United States and Singapore are the only countries that allow cell-cultivated meat products to be sold to consumers.

Between 2010 and 2022, cell-cultivated meat and seafood research and development received $3 billion in private and public donations, including $5 million from the National Science Foundation and $12 million from USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Most of the government money has gone to research universities.

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