In summer 2023, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service authorized the sale of cell-cultured chicken produced by two California startups. It marked the first-ever approval by the federal agency. Later that year, for a brief period, this lab-grown meat was part of the menu at two U.S. restaurants.

Derived from the muscle tissue cells of a live animal, cell-cultured meat is grown in laboratories. Currently, cell-cultured meat is not being produced for consumption or sale in the United States.

However, continued advances in cell-cultured meat production have provoked action by several state legislatures. Perhaps most notably, in 2024, Florida and Alabama became the first U.S. states with statutory bans on the sale and production of cell-cultured meat. Soon after passage of the Florida measure, a California startup (UPSIDE) brought a case challenging the law’s constitutionality.

No such blanket prohibitions exist in the Midwest. However, new laws, as well as one gubernatorial executive order, have added new labeling requirements (Iowa, Kansas, North Dakota and South Dakota) and/or restrictions on state or local purchasing of lab-grown meat (Iowa and Nebraska).

Illinois stands apart from this regional trend. In 2023, legislators there established the Alternative Protein Innovation Task Force to explore the expansion of alternative protein sources as a way of ensuring food access, easing environmental effects and supporting the state’s economy.

Read the full Stateline Midwest article

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