Earlier this week, Senators Mike Rounds (R-SD) and Jon Tester (D-Mont.) proposed a bipartisan bill that would ban cultivated meat products from being served in school lunch programs.
The bill, known as the School Lunch Integrity Act of 2024, would set limitations under the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and the School Breakfast Program (SBP).
“This commonsense bill will make sure our schools can serve real meat from our ranchers, not a fake substitute that’s grown in a lab,” Tester said in his press release.
Testers' office noted that the USDA has not yet provided any guidance on cultivated protein products in the NSLP and the SPB, and expressed safety concerns due to a lack of "knowing the long-term health effects on children."
Currently, the United States and Singapore are the only 2 countries where lab-grown meat has been approved for consumption. The cultivated meat market is estimated to reach $1.99 billion by 2035. Back in November, Italy became the first country in the world to ban the sale of lab-grown meat.
“Our students should not be test subjects for cell-cultivated ‘meat’ experiments,” said Sen. Rounds. “South Dakota farmers and ranchers work hard to produce high-quality beef products. These products are often sold to South Dakota schools, where they provide necessary nutrition to our students. With high quality, local beef readily available for our students, there’s no reason to be serving fake, lab-grown meat products in the cafeteria.”
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