In Some US States, Efforts to Ban Lab-Grown Meat Hit A Snag

As anti-cultivated-meat legislation heats up in the US, Nebraska and South Dakota’s efforts to ban these proteins are facing opposition from some policymakers – and farmers.

For Americans in government office, it’s almost become fashionable to attempt a ban on cultivated meat.

The ball went rolling with Ron DeSantis and Florida, which outlawed the production and sale of cultivated meat last summer, followed shortly by its neighbour, Alabama.

These bills got through state legislature pretty quickly, positioned as efforts to safeguard the local cattle industry and public health. But they’re also so far the only instances of such efforts being successful.

More than 20 states across the US have floated measures to ban cultivated meat or restrict how these proteins are labelled. A lot of it feels like a publicity stunt – some of it probably is.

A few of these legislative attempts have come and gone without posing any real threat of being passed. This week, two bills in Nebraska and South Dakota hit a snag too, facing pushback from fellow legislators, and surprisingly, cattle farmers.

South Dakota votes against cultivated meat ban

There are three anti-cultivated-meat-bills of note in South Dakota, all introduced in January. The first originated in the House, and requires cell-cultured proteins to be clearly labelled as such to prevent any “misbranding”. This passed unanimously, and was signed into law by Governor Larry Rhoden – it will come into effect on July 1.

The second bill sought to prohibit the state from financing any research, production or distribution of cultivated meat. This was unanimously passed on Thursday, and is on its way to Rhoden’s desk – but it includes an exception for public universities conducting research on these proteins.

However, the same day, HB 1109 also went to a vote in the Senate. This bill went the furthest, replicating Florida and Alabama’s measure to put an outright ban on the sale of cultivated meat within the state. Anyone found violating the law – if the bill became one – would be charged with a Class 2 misdemeanour.

Unlike the other two bills, this last one failed to pass through the Senate. Previous votes in the House and agricultural committees were also far from unanimous. On Wednesday, there was a 17-17 in the Senate, and upon reconsideration a day later, senators voted 19-16 against the legislation.

It came after two Republican senators who had previously voted in favour of the ban chose to oppose it in the subsequent vote. One of them, Amber Hulse, told South Dakota Searchlight: “I think the constitutionality of the bill, if I’m being quite honest, is questionable.”

Nebraska bill faces pushback from the meat industry

In Nebraska, Governor Jim Pillen’s mission to outlaw cultivated meat has been particularly aggressive. He introduced an executive order back in August to put restrictions on these proteins and named a ban one of his top priorities for 2025.

At his request, Senator Barry DeKay brought forward LB 246 last month to keep cultivated meat from being manufactured or sold in Nebraska, and requiring it to be labelled as an “adulterated food product” under the Pure Food Act.

The bill is still in its early stages, with the Agriculture Committee hearing the proposal earlier this week. It’s already encountering pushback – and not from who you expect.

According to the Associated Press, some of its most prominent opponents are the very people Pillen said he’s trying to protect. Nebraska’s ranchers and farming groups say they don’t need the government’s help to compete with cultivated meat.

One farmer told the AP that he welcomes cultivated meat producers to “jump into the pool” and try to compete with his Waygu beef, going on to describe his disdain for lawmakers’ efforts to stifle competition in a free market.

He noted that governments should only be limited to regulating product labels and facility inspections – something that the US Department of Agriculture already does when assessing novel food dossiers. “After that, it’s up to the consumer to make the decision about what they buy and eat,” said the beef farmer.

Latest in a long list of failed cultivated meat bills

These are just the latest examples of industry criticism and failures of bills hoping to ban cultivated meat. In Ohio, for example, two House Representatives introduced HB10 to prohibit the sale of “misbranded” alternative proteins; this came after their previous bill designed to restrict labelling, which died in the House Agriculture Committee last year.

Similar bills in Kentucky, New York, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Texas, Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Illinois have also failed to get anywhere. In fact, even the one that eventually succeeded in Florida came after a doomed proposal months earlier.

And even in Congress, a bipartisan bill to ban cultivated meat in schools – co-sponsored by Democrat Jon Tester and Republican Mike Rounds – never made it past the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.

This year, a spate of new proposals from legislators in states including South Carolina, West Virginia, Montana, Georgia (among others) have come under consideration – though based on the path of these other bills, they just feel like a waste of time and resources.

Florida is already facing legal action against its ban, after receiving criticism from the country’s oldest and largest trade association, which represents 95% of the US’s meat output. In a letter sent to DeSantis in March 2024, the North American Meat Institute called the ban “bad public policy”.

“These bills establish a precedent for adopting policies and regulatory requirements that could one day adversely affect the bills’ supporters,” it said, emphasising the importance of consumer choice.