Nebraska Gov. Pillen bars state agencies from obtaining lab-grown meat

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – Gov. Jim Pillen and the Nebraska Department of Agriculture announced three initiatives on Thursday that they said will protect the state’s agriculture industry from lab-grown meat.

Pillen made a trip to Oak Barn Beef in West Point to sign an executive order banning state agencies from obtaining lab-grown meat.

It also requires state contractors to promise not to discriminate against meat producers in favor of lab meat producers.

“Nebraska farmers and ranchers, like those here today, are committed to producing the best food products anywhere,” he said. “We feed the world, and we save the planet more effectively and more efficiently than anybody else, and I will defend those practices with my last breath.”

Pillen also told the Agriculture Department to make a rule requiring any lab-grown meat sold in stores to be clearly labeled and not placed next to natural meat.

In the upcoming legislative session, Pillen said he would work on a law to ban lab-grown meat in Nebraska.

Florida, Iowa and Alabama have already banned lab-grown meat, according to the governor’s office.