Texas Ban on Lab-Grown Meat Challenged by California Start-Ups

A new Texas law banning the sale of meat produced in a lab unlawfully drives away competition to the state’s agriculture industry, two California start-ups that wish to operate in Texas say.

S.B. 261, which took effect Sept. 1, has the purpose of stifling “innovative competition that is exclusively based outside of Texas,” the companies allege in a federal lawsuit.

Cultivated meat consists of cells taken from an animal and grown in vitro. Once the cells multiply, they can be packaged into food products that have a similar taste and texture to conventional meat, the lawsuit filed in ...