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Legislation introduced in both chambers of the General Assembly would ban the sale of lab-grown meat in a bid to protect the state's farming industry.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave its first approval for lab-grown meat in 2022, clearing lab-grown chicken produced by UPSIDE Foods. A second company, GOOD Meat, received FDA approval for its lab-grown meat products in June 2023. Neither company is currently selling their products on grocery store shelves. Instead, both have been temporarily on the menus of a handful of high-end restaurants around the country.
Proponents say lab-grown meat provides a more environmentally friendly means of producing the products while also providing meat that doesn't involve raising and killing livestock. But with thousands of farming jobs on the line, lawmakers aren't waiting for customers to try the products before stepping in to keep them off the shelves.
There are roughly 20,000 beef and poultry farms in Pennsylvania, according to state estimates.
"Many Pennsylvanians enjoy the great American tradition of barbecues and cookouts: getting together with friends and family to enjoy steaks, hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken and other fresh and delicious meats," Sen. Camera Bartolotta, R-Washington, said in a memo seeking support for Senate Bill 1422, introduced on Monday. "None of this would be possible without the generations of work our farmers have put into breeding and raising animals to produce the high-quality food we enjoy from the farm to our tables. But what if there was a movement, with billions of dollars behind it, to bring meat from cell cultures in a lab to our tables? This could be a reality if we don't join states such as Florida and Alabama that have recently passed bans on lab-grown meat."
Florida was the first state to enact a lab-grown meat ban in 2024. Since then, at least seven other states have implemented similar bans -- Alabama, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska and Texas.
Earlier this year, Louisiana enacted two pieces of legislation related to lab-grown meat -- Act 742 banning the sale of lab-grown meat and Act 565 requiring labels disclosing if meat products are lab-grown. Act 565 took effect Aug. 1, while Act 742 will take effect once federal courts ultimately determine that lab-grown meat bans are legal.
A federal appeals court in March rejected a bid for an injunction sought by a company to stop Florida's 2024 lab-grown meat ban. In that decision, the court ruled that Florida's lab-grown meat ban does not violate the federal Poultry Products Inspection Act.
SB 1422 has been referred to the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee. A House version of the legislation, House Bill 2139, was introduced in January and referred to the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee in that chamber.
In addition, Rep. Greg Scott, D-Montgomery, has announced plans for legislation that wouldn't ban lab-grown meat, but would implement labeling requirements for products sold in grocery stores and in restaurants.
"Cell-cultured meat is meat that is not harvested from livestock but rather grown from the cells and DNA of livestock in a controlled laboratory environment. In this way, only the muscle can be grown, completely removing the need for slaughter. While there is no evidence to suggest that cell-cultured meat is unhealthy, and the FDA has deemed it safe for consumption, consumers in Pennsylvania deserve to know exactly what they are eating," Scott said in a memo seeking support for the bill. "The people of Pennsylvania have a right to know what they eat, buy, and order at stores and restaurants so they can make their own informed decisions on what they consume."
Scott has not introduced his legislation yet.