South Carolina recently enacted a new law which prohibits the advertising of lab-grown meat as "meat" or "clean meat." The law went into effect on May 16, 2019.

The law prohibits anyone who advertises all or part of a "carcass" from engaging in "any misleading or deceptive practices, labeling, or misrepresenting a product as 'meat' or 'clean meat' that is cell-cultured meat/protein, or is not derived from harvested production livestock, poultry, fish, or crustaceans."

The main sponsor of the law, South Carolina Representative Randy Ligon, told The Post and Courier that, "I'm not trying to stop the science, but I want to be sure we understand what we are getting."

Interestingly, unlike some other states (such as Missouri and Nebraska), the bill doesn't take on plant-based meat substitutes. In fact, the new law specifically says that it does not apply to them.

Violation of the law is a misdemeanor.