A handful of states around the nation have moved to ban or restrict the sale of lab-grown meat. Now a new measure in North Carolina aims to place onerous labeling requirements on cultivated meat products.
House Bill 134 requires products containing lab-grown meat to "clearly disclose to a reasonable purchaser of meat food products that a food product is a cell-cultured meat product" by labeling it with terms like "cell-cultured," "fake," "lab-grown," or "grown in a lab." The bill also requires companies to place this disclaimer in 20-point font, or the size of the surrounding font, whichever is larger. The bill passed the state House in a 106–11 vote.
The proposal is far from the first attempt by state lawmakers to limit the sale of lab-grown meat. Iowa passed a similar labeling law last year. Florida and Alabama have banned the sale or production of cultivated meat entirely. Other states, including Tennessee, Arizona, and Texas, all considered similar bills banning lab-grown meat, though they ultimately did not pass. While North Carolina's labeling law passed the state House with overwhelming support, it wasn't without its detractors.
