Lab-grown meat isn’t available in stores or restaurants, but that’s not stopping some Republican-led states from putting aside free-market concerns to ban it before it even makes its way out of the petri dishes.

Montana this week became the fifth state to ban cell-cultured food grown in labs, in a bid to protect beef producers.

“If you’ve ever had the pleasure of enjoying a cut of Montana beef, you know there is no substitute,” Governor Gianforte said as he signed House Bill 401 into law. “I am proud to defend our way of life and the hardworking Montana ranchers who produce the best beef in the world.”

Lab-grown meat is not close to reaching the market because of the expenses involved in producing it. More companies are trying to figure out how to scale production to make it economically feasible. There is no timeline for when they hope to accomplish that, but it is expected to take years.

In 2024, Florida was the first state to ban lab-grown meat. Governor DeSantis made it less about economics and more of a culture war issue, signing Senate Bill 1084 to stop what he claimed was the World Economic Forum’s goal of “forcing the world to eat lab-grown meat and insects.”

The World Economic Forum has touted lab-grown meat as a sustainable alternative to conventional meat, noting that it can reduce the environmental impact of food production and uses less land, water, and energy. The forum hosts its annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, and attracts global leaders and celebrities.

“Florida is fighting back against the global elite’s plan to force the world to eat meat grown in a petri dish or bugs to achieve their authoritarian goals,” Mr. DeSantis said. “We will save our beef.”

An Alabama law passed shortly after Florida’s ban became law has penalties of up to $10,000 for any business that sells lab-grown meat. Iowa has not banned it outright, but has barred schools from buying it and requires lab-grown meat to have a label that states it is lab-grown, fake, meatless, or imitation.

Mississippi and Indiana also have enacted their own bans on the meat.

“This legislation prohibits companies from exploiting the trust consumers have with our livestock producers and misleading consumers into buying products they don’t want,” the state’s Republican governor, Kim Reynolds, said. “This is about transparency. It’s about the common-sense idea that a product labeled chicken, beef or pork should actually come from an animal.”

Proponents of lab-grown meat say the labeling rules and bans are just protectionary roadblocks that stifle innovation. One of two American startups with federal approval to sell lab-grown meat, Good Meat, is considering litigation to roll back the bans and other roadblocks to adoption.

“It’s a shame they are closing the door before we even get out of the gate,” Good Meat’s head of global marketing, Tom Rossmeissl, told the Associated Press.

At least one Republican-led state has put a proposed ban on hold. During last year’s legislative session, Tennessee lawmakers said the matter needed more study.

The champions of American cattle, though, say the time for study is over. “Agriculture is our state’s no. 1 industry, and this bill takes a clear stand to protect our ranchers and our food supply,” the bill’s sponsor, Representative Braxton Mitchell, said. “We won’t let synthetic products with misleading labels undercut the hard work of Montana’s farm and ranch families.”