If Gov. Jim Pillen has his way, Nebraska legislators will pass a law banning the sale of “lab-grown meat” — the industry prefers the term cultivated meat — during its next session. Florida and Alabama enacted state bans on the alternative meat this year, and Iowa has barred school districts and publicly funded colleges from buying the meat.
Pillen announced plans for legislation at the same time that he signed an executive order to block state agencies and contractors from buying cultivated meat. He also said the state Agriculture Department would draft regulations to see that the alternative meat is not displayed on the same supermarket shelves as meat from livestock and poultry.
Nebraska is the second-largest cattle-producing state in the country.
In early August, Upside Foods, one of two companies with U.S. approval to sell cultivated chicken, filed suit against the Florida ban.