UPSIDE Foods & Wildtype Sue Texas for Banning Cultivated Meat
Cultivated meat company UPSIDE Foods and cultivated seafood producer Wildtype have partnered with the Institute for Justice (IJ) to file a federal lawsuit against the state of Texas for banning cultivated meat. Texas’ law, SB 261, went into effect on September 1 and imposes a total ban on the sale of cultivated meat in Texas. Penalties for violation include fines of up to $25,000 per day and even jail time. …
Texas Joins Growing List of States Enacting Cultivated Meat Bans
On June 23, 2025, Governor Greg Abbott of Texas signed Senate Bill 261 into law, effectively prohibiting the sale, manufacture, and distribution of cell-cultured protein products for human consumption within the state. The bill, which will take effect on September 1, 2025, also makes it a Class A misdemeanor offense to offer or sell such products, with penalties escalating to a state jail felony for repeat offenders. The law defines …
BioWell Assumes Control of Texas BioTechnology’s Pilot Facility to Address Biomanufacturing Gaps
BioWell, a nonprofit accelerator based in Houston, has officially assumed control of the Texas BioTechnology pilot facility in Richmond, Texas. The 33,000-square-foot plant is now the largest publicly accessible industrial biomanufacturing facility in the US, offering critical resources for scaling up biotechnological processes. With 13,000 liters of fermentation capacity, the facility provides contract development and manufacturing services, along with advanced laboratory spaces and bioprocessing equipment. Veronica Breckenridge, founder of BioWell …
Texas Passes State Bill to Stop “Deceptive Labeling” of Alt Protein Products
Texas – America’s largest cattle-producing state – has passed State Bill 664, which will require meat alternatives to be labeled with qualifying terms such as “analogue, meatless, plant-based, made from plants” or “cell-cultured”, “lab-grown”, or similar language. According to the bill’s authors and proponents, SB 664 aims to prevent plant-based and cultivated meat companies from making misleading claims about their products and deceiving consumers. On May 2, the bill passed …