Lawmakers introduce bill to prohibit lab-grown meat sales
On Jan. 27, Wyoming lawmakers introduced legislation to prohibit the manufacture, sale and distribution of lab-grown meat, a move they believe will protect public health, consumer transparency and the state’s livestock industry.
Sponsored by State Reps. Tomi Strock (R-HD06) and Gary Brown (R-HD41), House Bill (HB) 61 builds on an existing labeling law in the state of Wyoming requiring meat alternatives and plant-based products to be clearly identified for consumers.
If enacted, the legislation would take effect on July 1.
Details of the bill
According to the bill’s text, HB0061 would prohibit the manufacture, sale, offer for sale and distribution of “cultivated meat” for human consumption, while also providing clear definitions, penalties and effective dates.
In the bill, cultivated meat is defined as meat grown entirely in a lab from cultured animal cells rather than harvested from a living animal. Cultured animal cells are defined as those collected from a living or recently slaughtered animal grown in controlled environments for the purpose of creating cultivated meat.
Under the bill, cultivated meat would be classified as a prohibited product for human consumption in Wyoming, and state regulators would have authority to summarily suspend food establishment licenses if cultivated meat is manufactured, sold and/or distributed, similar to actions taken in cases of other imminent health hazards.
Additionally, HB0061 outlines all retailers and wholesalers throughout the state of Wyoming must clearly label lab-grown meat products as “containing cell cultured products” or plant-based meat products as “vegetarian,” “veggie,” “vegan” or “plant based.”
An ongoing national debate
Lab-grown meat has become the latest topic in the ongoing saga of alternative meat products.
After the rise and arguable fall of plant-based meat over the past few years, companies like California-based Good Meat, Inc. and Upside Foods, Inc. have been working diligently to get lab-cultivated meats on shelves and menus across the nation.
The companies succeeded in entering lab-grown chicken into interstate commerce in July 2023, produced the first cell-cultivated beef shortly after and are in the midst of exploring cell cultivation of seafood and other meats.
Like its plant-based counterpart, lab-grown meat is a highly controversial category of the U.S. food industry and has caused widespread concern among consumers, health officials and lawmakers alike about long-term health impacts, environmental issues and regulatory oversight.
To date, lab-grown meat is banned in seven states, including Alabama, Florida, Indiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska and Texas – reflecting growing resistance, especially in livestock producing regions, where many argue the technology is unproven and could undermine traditional agriculture.
“Lab-grown meat is still an experimental product with many unknowns,” says Center for the Environment and Welfare (CEW) Research Director Will Coggin in a Jan. 30 press release. “We expect more and more lawmakers and consumers to question whether these products are ready for the market, given the lack of long-term health studies.”
In addition to health concerns, critics of the technology also raise environmental concerns, despite claims from cultivated meat supporters who promote it as a more sustainable alternative to conventional livestock production.
In 2023, scientists at the University of California, Davis (UC Davis) published research results suggesting lab-grown meat could have up to 25 times the environmental impact of farm-raised meat largely due to the energy-intensive processes required to maintain sterile lab environments and grow animal cells at scale.
“If companies are having to purify growth media to pharmaceutical levels, it uses more resources, which then increases global warming potential,” says Lead Author and Doctoral Graduate Derrick Risner of the UC Davis Department of Food Science and Technology. “If this product continues to be produced using the ‘pharma’ approach, it’s going to be worse for the environment and more expensive than conventional beef production.”
Corresponding Author Edward Spang, associate professor in the UC Davis Department of Food Science and Technology, adds, “Our findings suggest cultured meat is not inherently better for the environment than conventional beef. It’s not a panacea. It’s possible we could reduce its environmental impact in the future, but it will require significant technical advancement to simultaneously increase the performance and decrease the cost of the cell-culture media.”
Overall, the study suggests, “Even the most efficient beef production systems reviewed in the study outperform cultured meat across all scenarios – both food and pharma – suggesting investments to advance more climate-friendly beef production may yield greater reductions in emissions more quickly than investments in cultured meat.”
Closer to home, livestock production remains a cornerstone of the economy and culture, and supporters of HB0061 believe the bill reinforces Wyoming’s commitment to animal agriculture while ensuring consumers know exactly what they are purchasing.
Hannah Bugas is the managing editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup. Send comments on this article to roundup@wylr.net.
