Commonwealth Policy Center

Would you eat chicken that was grown in a science lab petri dish? The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently approved the sale of meat grown in a laboratory from the muscle tissue cells of living animals. Supporters argue that it’s more ethical and easier on the environment. But is meat grown in a science lab more ethical than meat grown on a small family farm with which it will compete? Many Kentucky leaders don’t think so. The legislature passed a law that prevents use of the word ‘meat’ for anything that contains cultured animal tissue. We should be for truth in advertising, but at the same time we should be for efficiency and technological breakthroughs that reduce the cost of food production. Whether the chicken grown in a lab tastes the same as real chicken grown on a farm will be left up to the consumers.