NEW TECH FOODS

Governor Jim Pillen and the Nebraska Department of Agriculture have announced new regulations against cultivated meat, with Pillen eyeing a total ban on sales in 2025, according to Nebraska Examiner.

Pillen signed an executive order yesterday (29 August), prohibiting state agencies from procuring cultivated or other meat alternatives. The order also requires entities that contract with the State of Nebraska, US, to pledge not to discriminate against natural products in favour of cultivated meat producers.

Pillen approved the measures at Oak Barn Beef, a family-owned meat shop in West Point, Nebraska, where he was supported by the store’s owner, a livestock farmer running for office, and the head of the state’s agricultural department – whose family owns a beef farm.

Speaking at Oak Barn Beef, Pillen said: “We’re being proactive and making sure that silly things aren’t happening, because they are happening on the coasts. If we sit back and wait until the grocery stores are full, that’s not the way we want to lead.”

Nebraska Agriculture Director Sherry Vinton said her agency will launch new labelling regulations ‘simply to protect consumers from being misled’. Similar to recent regulations in Iowa, cultivated meat would be required to be clearly and distinctly separated from ‘natural, real meat’ under the future regulations and be labelled as such with a prominent label, Vinton said.

Vinton added that standards would also be developed to determine when cell-based meat is being falsely advertised or misbranded.

Pillen’s family owns a hog operation in Nebraska – he and University of Nebraska-Lincoln officials highlighted how the livestock industry contributes more than $6 billion to the state’s economy each year.

In May, Florida and Alabama became the first states to outlaw the sale of cultivated meat. At the time, Pillen said: “The fake-meat, petri-dish-meat folks, they’re not going to have a place in Nebraska, just mark that down on your calendar. It’s time for us to roll up our sleeves and fight and defend Nebraska, and that’s what we’re doing.”

Earlier this month, the US Institute for Justice – a national nonprofit public interest law firm – partnered with cultured meat firm Upside Foods to challenge Florida’s law prohibiting the manufacture, distribution or sale of cultivated meat. Upside filed a legal complaint in the US District Court for the Northern District of Florida, calling Florida’s SB 1084 ‘unconstitutional’. This injunction came just 42 days after the ban in Florida came into effect.

Governor Pillen directed much of his criticism on Bill Gates – who has invested million in alt-proteins, including Upside Foods – and other people who have advocated for meat alternatives. Pillen commented: “There’s a guy that made some money in building computers. He needs to stay in the computer space and knock this stuff off thinking that he’s going to promote lab-grown meat. He’s lost his brains.”

Pillen described the new efforts as ‘a big deal,’ stating that Nebraska had entered “a full-blown attack on lab-grown meats and fake meat.”

Secretary of State Bob Evnen received and signed the executive order yesterday afternoon, which means it is now in effect.

Top image: ©Nebraska Examiner

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