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House adopts amendment removing exemptions for plant‑based and certain lab‑grown meats; sponsor cites threat to agriculture
Summary
Representative Hadden explained and the House adopted Amendment 1 to House Bill 5,096 — removing exemptions for plant‑based substitutes and some cell‑grown products — and the clerk recorded a 110–0 roll‑call on second reading; sponsor framed the change as protecting South Carolina agriculture.
Representative Hadden explained Amendment 1 to House Bill 5,096 on the House floor, telling colleagues the amendment removes the exemption for plant‑based meat substitutes and certain cellular‑grown products and was intended to protect South Carolina’s agricultural economy.
"This is a bill to ban fake meat in South Carolina," Hadden said while explaining the amendment, arguing that some products are created in laboratories rather than on farms and that the changes would protect the ag community and the food supply.
Hadden described two categories targeted by the amendment: plant‑based meat substitutes and a separate class he called "cellulose grown meat" (cellular‑ or lab‑grown products). On the floor he urged members to review product ingredient lists and characterized many ingredients as industrial or chemically produced. Some members asked brief clarifying or rhetorical questions during the exchange; no extended technical rebuttal or industry testimony was recorded in the floor remarks included in the transcript.
The chamber adopted Amendment 1 (voice adoption noted) and then held a roll‑call vote for second reading of the bill; the clerk tabulated a vote of 110–0 in favor of House Bill 5,096 receiving second reading. After the roll call, the bill’s sponsor requested unanimous consent to place the bill on the calendar for third reading the following day; the Speaker announced there was no objection and ordered it.
The transcript records sponsor assertions about laboratory production methods and ingredient composition. Those technical claims were not tested or rebutted on the floor in the recorded remarks; if this bill advances, technical details about production methods, labeling standards and statutory definitions would be matters for committee review and potential outside testimony.
The next procedural step recorded on the floor was the scheduling of the bill for third reading at the sponsor’s request.
