States Move to Ban Lab-Grown Meat: The Future of Food in Jeopardy

Cultivated Meat Companies Face Legislative Hurdles

Cultivated meat companies are facing a challenging landscape as legislators, influenced by the traditional meat industry, propose bills that could hinder their growth. Despite investments from major meat producers like Cargill and Tyson in cultivated meat startups, and JBS‘s own research efforts, the pushback from lawmakers remains strong.

Startups Engage with Legislators

Wildtype cofounders Justin Kolbeck and Ayré Elfenbein have been actively engaging with legislators in Arizona, Alabama, and Florida to advocate for their cause. They emphasize the potential of cultivated seafood to improve food security in the US, given the country’s reliance on imported seafood.

“The shift we’re seeing is toward something that is far more extreme, which is talking about outright bans,” says Elfenbein.

Labeling Restrictions and Political Fodder

Proposed bills in states like Arizona and West Virginia aim to impose labeling restrictions on cultivated meat products, lumping them together with insect meat—a category that many consumers find unappealing. Sparsha Saha, a lecturer on meat and politics at Harvard’s Department of Government, notes that the powerful and integrated meat and dairy sector makes cultivated meat an easy target for political fodder.

Misinformation and Political Warfare

In Florida, the debate took an extreme turn, with representatives making misinformed statements comparing cultured meat to bacterial cultures and cancer cells. Wildtype’s Elfenbein argues that these arguments are made under the false pretense of safety. Florida’s agricultural commissioner has even compared the FDA’s approval of cultured meat to mask mandates, highlighting the inherently political nature of the battle.

Behind Closed Doors and Public Perception

Despite the heated rhetoric on the House floor, lawmakers often strike a more balanced tone in private conversations with cultivated meat companies. Upside Foods has released a blog post urging prospective customers to ask Governor DeSantis to veto the bill in Florida.

The European Landscape

Resistance to cultured meat is also growing in Europe, with Italy approving a ban on the food, which is not yet available to customers in the region. However, the Italian law may violate an EU directive designed to prevent regulatory barriers within the bloc. EU delegates have called for a renewed and broad debate on lab-grown meat.

The Future of Cultivated Meat

As more state-level proposed bans loom on the horizon, cultivated meat companies and nonprofits like the Good Food Institute continue to engage with legislators to advocate for their cause. While cultivated meat may be approved for sale in the US, the battle to convince lawmakers to accept it is just beginning.