Texas becomes seventh state to ban lab-grown meat • Stateline
stateline.org
Texas is the fifth state this year and seventh overall to ban lab-grown meat.

“This ban is a massive win for Texas ranchers, producers, and consumers,” Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller said in a statement following the bill’s passage. “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. It’s plain cowboy logic that we must safeguard our real, authentic meat industry from synthetic alternatives.”

…

Texas joins Indiana, Mississippi, Montana and Nebraska in enacting new laws this year; Alabama and Florida did so last year. In March, the Oklahoma House approved a similar bill that did not advance out of the Senate this session.

  • Lyrl@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    5·
    20 days ago

    Lab grown animal cells will always be more expensive than animal-grown animal cells. Animals have immune systems; lab cells have to be kept in a sterile environment, a significant cost. Animals have digestive systems and can power cell growth and all other functions from common plant materials; lab cells have to be fed pre-digested and carefully proportioned material, a significant cost. Animals have circulatory systems that efficiently perfuse oxygen and nutrients, and remove waste; lab cell containers have to be centrifuged in small containers because the forces required in large containers damage the cells. And so on.

    The real potential for equal-tasting, cheaper, better-for-environment cuts is in plant-based imitations like what Impossible brand and its competitors are doing.

    These laws banning lab grown cells are banning designer lab-grown cuts as a luxury good. Once that market matures, I am sure the wealthy people who jump on the conspicuous consumption bandwagon will not have any problem getting the law repealed or exceptions carved out for them.

    • QuoVadisHomines@sh.itjust.works
      5·
      20 days ago

      I wish my stomach could handle impossible meats but they just immediately go through me. For me going towards a more plant based diet will require avoiding highly processed meat replacements.

      • Lyrl@lemmy.dbzer0.com
        3·
        20 days ago

        That’s interesting, I hadn’t realized they affected some people that way. I have noticed their “beef” and “pork” products include a lot of fat, maybe the greasy slipperiness contributes to the effect? I’d like to think use in dishes where the other ingredients are low-fat would balance things out, but if not that’s sad for that brand.

        • QuoVadisHomines@sh.itjust.works
          3·
          20 days ago

          In my case it’s the pea protein isolates. That burger spent so little time in my belly that I doubt I digested much of it.

          edit: pea proteins are a known problem for my family

          • LousyCornMuffins@lemmy.worldEnglish
            2·
            20 days ago

            that explains a lot. there’s that restaurant down in santa nella that you either love or it gives you the runs and i never thought it was a heritable pea protein thing.

            • QuoVadisHomines@sh.itjust.works
              3·
              20 days ago

              It’s specifically the ultra processed isolated proteins from peas. I can eat cooked peas or raw in pod peas without a problem but vegan pea based “ice cream” is in my belly for minutes at best. For ice cream replacements it has to be oat or coconut based.

    • null_dot@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      4·
      20 days ago

      You’ve really just enumerated some of the advantages traditional production has over synthetic meats.

      Animals need arable land - something which will be in very short supply given climate change.

      Animals are a significant source of greenhouse gas production.

      Raising animals is in many cases unethical.

      Synthetic meat production is not as dependent on regular climate cycles.

      Animal husbandry is a mature technology with little opportunity for advancement.