Two California-based companies filed a lawsuit seeking to reverse Texas’ ban on lab-grown meat. The ban was signed into law in June and prohibits the sale of lab-grown meat in the state for two years, effective Sept. 1, 2025.
The companies, Wildtype and Upside Foods, are represented by nonprofit organization The Institute for Justice, which filed the complaint in U.S. district court in the Western District of Texas on Tuesday, Sept. 2. Wildtype is engaged in the production of salmon, while Upside Foods produces poultry. Both have distributed their products in Austin, according to the lawsuit.
The Institute for Justice argues the new law is unconstitutional and meant to protect the state’s livestock industry.
“SB 261 takes away the right of Texans to decide for themselves what to eat, and Texas did this for the purpose of protecting an in-state industry from an entirely out-of-state industry,” said Marco Vazquez, attorney at The Institute for Justice in Texas, in a press conference. “But this is Texas. We don’t ban competition. We embrace it.”
