Two-year moratorium prohibits manufacture, sale of cultured meat in Indiana

That's the word from the Indiana Statehouse where the Republican-controlled General Assembly has approved a ban on the manufacture and sale of cultivated meat, also known as lab-grown meat, between July 1, 2025, and June 30, 2027.

"The U.S. Department of Agriculture just approved this product in 2023, in the fall, so it's still a relatively new product. I think that taking our time and making sure we know what our constituents are consuming is thoughtful and a wise decision," said state Rep. Beau Baird, R-Greencastle, the sponsor of House Enrolled Act 1425.

Cultivated meat is produced in a laboratory setting using real animal cells but without the need for the massive livestock operations that generate the bulk of the beef, chicken, pork and other meats consumed in Indiana and across the country.

Only two U.S. companies, both based in California, have begun growing chicken cells into meat. But it's still likely to be years before lab-grown meat is anything other than a novelty.

State Rep. Matt Pierce, D-Bloomington, said the two-year moratorium on cultivated meat raises questions about the "small government" bona fides of the Republican supermajorities in the Indiana House and Senate.

"Whenever anyone has come up here and said, 'We need a moratorium, we've got to have a time out,' usually that's not very well received in this body," Pierce said to his House colleagues.

"So it's just interesting to me that we have a legal product approved by the Department of Agriculture and we're going to put a moratorium on it....This General Assembly is normally not a moratorium kind of place."

The legislation also provides that once the moratorium expires on July 1, 2027, any cultivated meat advertised or sold in Indiana must include the phrase "THIS IS AN IMITATION MEAT PRODUCT" on its packaging.

The measure was approved 74-15 in the House and 43-7 by the Senate. It next goes to Republican Gov. Mike Braun to be signed into law.