Texas became the seventh state to ban lab-grown meat on Tuesday after a law banning it went into effect on Tuesday.
So far, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Montana, Indiana, and Nebraska have passed legislation restricting the sale of lab-grown meat in their states.
From The Independent:
Lab-grown meat, also known as cell-cultivated meat or cultured meat, is not widely sold or even consumed in Texas, but a law still went into effect Monday banning its sale for at least two years. Cell-cultivated meat is real animal meat made from animal cells. Advocates say it will create a more humane food source and reduce environmental and health impacts that come along with traditional animal meat.
While the news received a warm reception from cattle ranchers and others in the meat industry, some legal experts say the ban violates people’s constitutional rights by telling them what they can and cannot eat.
Lab-grown meat is manufactured by extracting a small sample of animal cells and growing them in a controlled environment to ensure they have the right nutrients, temperature, and conditions. The cells are placed in bioreactors where they multiply and turn into muscle tissue under conditions that mimic an animal’s body.
Those supporting the bans argue that allowing companies to produce and sell lab-grown meat could threaten the livestock industry. Farmers and ranchers would be forced to contend with new competition, which could impede their ability to earn revenue. They also point out that it could lead to a loss of jobs if lab-grown meat catches on and begins cutting into their profits.
“Ranchers across Texas work tirelessly to raise healthy cattle and produce high-quality beef,” Texas & Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association President Carl Ray Polk Jr. said in a written statement. “Our association is grateful for those legislators who voted to support this legislation and understood the core of this bill, to protect our consumers, the beef industry and animal agriculture.”
Others have raised concerns about safety. The FDA and USDA have both approved lab-grown meat as safe alternatives to traditional meat. But some state lawmakers have expressed skepticism about its long-term safety.
Opponents point out that laws banning lab-grown meat amounts to government using its power to prevent competition by dictating what people can and cannot eat. Paul Sherman, an attorney with the Institute for Justice referred to Texas’ law as “a classic example of special interest legislation.” He told The Dallas Morning News” that the law “has nothing to do with public health and safety, and everything to do with protecting the powerful agriculture lobby from innovative out-of-state competition.”
How do we know that Texas banned cultivated meat to protect in-state agriculture from out-of-state competition? Because they said so. Again, and again, and again. pic.twitter.com/CH6YuyTf2l
— Paul Sherman (@PaulMSherman) September 3, 2025
The Institute for Justice is representing two California-based cultivated meat companies in a lawsuit challenging Texas’ law. The complaint insists that the measure is unconstitutional and economically protectionist.
“The legislation “was not enacted to rotect the health and safety of Texas consumers—indeed, it allows the continued distribution of cultivated meat to consumers so long as it is not sold,” according to the Institute for Justice, which further argued that the law serves to “stifle the growth of the cultivated meat industry to protect Texas’s conventional agricultural industry from innovative competition that is exclusively based outside of Texas.”
From where I sit, this is yet another example of protectionist nanny-state legislation aimed at using government force to control what people choose to eat. If people want to eat lab-grown meat, the state has no business telling them they can’t.
As long as cultivated meat companies are accurately labeling the product so that people know what they are eating, the government shouldn't intervene.
I do understand the concerns of farmers and ranchers. But realistically, I do not believe there is a scenario in which cultivated meat would pose an actual threat to the industry. Most, including myself, aren’t going to switch over to lab-grown meat products because we prefer the real deal.
Liberty means being free to decide what to put on one’s plate — even if it is grown in a lab. Instead of meddling in the industry, the government needs to allow the free market to function.
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