Cultivated meat, more widely known to the public as “lab-grown meat,” is at an inflection point. Lab grown chicken and beef cultivated from cells in a petri dish remain unavailable to the average consumer, but the former has gained US Department of Agriculture approval. Two US restaurants in San Francisco and Washington DC have already served cultivated choice meat on their menus and more could follow as prices begin to fall.
A recent ad campaign attempting to discredit the industry leaned on the theory and reportedly depicted a student at a science fair claiming the cells in the cultivated meat “grow like a tumor” and are “bath with chemicals.” The Republican led backlash to lab grown meat isn’t limited to full on bans either. More than a dozen states have pursued regulations restricting how lab cultivated meat companies brand their product.