Committee approves bill requiring cultivated‑meat products to be labeled as imitation meat product; debate centers on terminology and federal labeling

House Bill 1425 would add a statutory definition for "cultivated meat product" and require that packages containing such products carry a clear label indicating they are imitation meat products. Sponsors described the measure as a consumer‑protection and labeling bill; industry groups and some senators warned about federal preemption, terminology and the potential effect on interstate commerce.

Senator Glick, who introduced the bill in committee, said the measure "prohibits the labeling of those products as meat" and insisted the goal is to prevent consumer confusion by clearly distinguishing products originating from animal carcasses from products produced in laboratories. The bill defines cultivated meat product in part as "animal protein grown in a facility from extracted animal stem cells arranged in a similar structure as animal tissues to replicate the sensory…