States Debate Cultivated Meat Bans as Industry Pushes for Consume

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Meat Industry Pushes Back on Cultivated Meat Bans

by: Food and Drug Law at Keller and Heckman of Keller and Heckman LLP - The Daily Intake

Wednesday, March 5, 2025

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While several states are taking legislative action to restrict or ban the sale of cultivated meat, with legislators arguing that the bans would protect the meat industry, there is a different message coming from many groups in the industry itself. Critics of the bans argue that they would “restrict free trade and threaten food safety benefits.”
Nebraska, a state that ranks among the top 10 producers of beef and pork, is among many of the states that has proposed a cultivated meat ban, and the state’s governor issued an executive order in August 2024 barring state agencies from buying cultivated meat. However, ranchers and meat industry groups are pushing back on the ban, saying that “it’s up to the consumer to make the decision about what they buy and eat.” Industry groups say that they are “not worried about competition” from cultivated meat but prefer a different approach that would require the products to be clearly labeled as lab-grown.
The North American Meat Institute has similarly opposed cultivated meat bans, writing a letter in opposition to the Florida ban in February 2024. In its letter, the organization says that the bills would be preempted by the Federal Meat Inspection Act, which regulates the processing and distribution of meat products in interstate commerce. Further, the Meat Institute argued that the bans are “bad public policy that would restrict consumer choice and stifle innovation” and that USDA oversight of cell cultivated meat products places the products on a level playing field in terms of food safety and labeling requirements.
In addition, legislators in Wyoming and South Dakota have voted against cultivated meat bans in their states, citing free trade manipulation and urging instead for more packaging and labeling regulations to support informed decisions.