Scientist holding Petri dish with cow silhouette made of beef on white background | Image by New Africa/Shutterstock

Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill temporarily banning the sale of lab-grown meat in the state of Texas.

Abbott signed Senate Bill 261 on June 20, banning the sale of lab-grown meat for human consumption. The bill takes effect for two years starting September 1, and sets forth “criminal and civil penalties” for violating the law.

“Governor Abbott signed SB 261 into law to protect Texas’ thriving cattle industry and consumers while simultaneously providing time for further research into cell-cultured protein technologies,” said Press Secretary Andrew Mahaleris in a statement to The Dallas Express. 

The bill says offering “cell-cultured protein” for sale, or selling it for human consumption, is “unlawful and prohibited” in the state. This section expires September 1, 2027.

Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller applauded the move on June 26, saying it would protect “ranchers, producers, and consumers” in the state. 

“Texans have a God-given right to know what’s on their plate, and for millions of Texans, it better come from a pasture, not a lab,” Miller said in a press release. “It’s plain cowboy logic that we must safeguard our real, authentic meat industry from synthetic alternatives.”

State Sen. Charles Perry and state Rep. Stan Gerdes, both Republicans, sponsored the bill, according to the release. Numerous other Republicans also backed the measure.

The law sets stricter definitions for any meat, “meat food product,” egg, egg product, poultry, poultry product, and fish. It bans any “analogue product” or “cell-cultured protein.” 

This ensures sellers only provide meat “raised with natural and traditional methods” to consumers, according to the release. 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture first approved “cell-cultivated chicken” for sale in 2023. That year, restaurants in San Francisco and Washington, D.C. began serving lab-grown meat to their customers. The World Economic Forum, whose leadership includes prominent global leaders, pushed lab-grown meat in 2020 as a “sustainable alternative” to real meat. 

“We need images of cultured meat that appear familiar and delicious, otherwise consumers will think the opposite before products even reach their plates,” said Max Elder, former Research Director of the Food Futures Lab at the Institute for the Future, in the WEF article. 

Miller said Texas raises the “best beef and poultry products in the world.”

“Texans feed the world with real food from real animals raised by real people,” Miller said in the release. “Lab-grown meat just doesn’t belong in Texas, and now, it doesn’t have a place on our tables.”