As traditional farmers push back against the onset of lab-grown dairy products, Mississippi is set to become the first U.S. state to prohibit “cell-cultured milk.”
House Bill 1153 passed with bipartisan support in both chambers of the Mississippi Legislature and went into law without the signature of Gov. Tate Reeves. The measure prohibits the manufacture, sale, or offer of cell-cultured dairy products in the state. It also bars the sale of food products misbranded as meat and restricts the use of traditional meat terms on alternative protein products – including those made from plants – unless clearly labeled with a qualifying term.
According to the National Institutes of Health, cell-cultured milk is an emerging cellular agricultural technology that produces real dairy milk components by cultivating mammary epithelial cells in vitro, rather than using farm animals. In essence, it is milk produced in a lab or controlled facility without using cows.
Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce Andy Gipson, speaking during National Agriculture Day events at the state capitol in Jackson, touted the legislation as a win for the state’s top industry and the roughly 50 remaining dairy farms operating in Mississippi.
“We are living in a time where it seems everything is artificial, and you wonder what is real. We’ve seen everything from fake grass – astroturf – to fake meat, and now, they’ve come up with lab-grown, or fake, milk,” Gipson said. “So, today, we’re especially proud to be here to celebrate agriculture, and to promote real food for real people. Thank you to our legislators for making Mississippi the first state in America to outlaw fake milk.”
While Mississippi is the first state to pass legislation specifically targeting cell-cultured milk, similar measures are being considered in other agriculture-heavy states Lawmakers in Mississippi previously passed legislation in 2025 restricting the production and sale of certain cell-cultured protein products.
The new ban on cell-cultured milk in Mississippi will take effect July 1, 2026.
