RHCJC News
A cow and her calf at Giles Farms near State Line, Miss.
The Roy Howard Community Journalism Center’s “What Is True?” team investigated social media claims that lab-grown meats are made using cancer cells.
This claim is false.
Mississippi lawmakers are skeptical of lab-grown meat, but there is no evidence the products contain cancerous cells. Health agencies and scientists say the production process is documented, regulated and does not pose the cancer risks suggested online.
Read the full fact-check below for details on how lab-grown meat is really made and how to spot misinformation about it:
In the past year, Mississippi became the third state to ban the sale of lab-grown meat. Lawmakers raised questions about how the meat is made and its potential impact on Mississippi farmers, while viral claims on social media spread misinformation across the South.
Lab-grown meat — also called cultured meat — is produced using stem cells taken from animals and grown in controlled environments. The Good Food Institute explains the cells are placed in devices called bioreactors and fed nutrients so they can grow and multiply.
Some companies use immortalized cells, which divide indefinitely without repeated animal samples. Scientists confirm even though immortalized cells keep dividing, this does not make them cancerous. To be considered cancerous, cells must show traits such as uncontrolled growth and the creation of new blood vessels, said Good Food Institute’s Sr. Principal Scientist Elliot Swartz in an Associated Press article.
Critics also raised questions about the environmental and economic effects of lab-grown meat, but those arguments do not support claims about cancer cells.
Next time you see a claim online about lab-grown meats, stop and consider its credibility:
Check the wording of the claim. If the post uses sensational language like “fake” or “toxic” or if the post contains multiple capitalized words for dramatic emphasis, that’s a red flag. Real science doesn’t use sensational language.
Find the source. Reliable information about food and food safety comes from organizations like the World Health Organization and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or peer-reviewed studies — not anonymous social media accounts.
Look out for distorted facts. Sometimes misinformation and disinformation use scientific terms (like immortalized cells) but twist them to make them sound a certain way.
This report was produced by the Roy Howard Community Journalism Center as part of its “What Is True?” fact-checking service. The center’s researchers investigate local claims to help the public separate fact from fiction. To learn more or submit a claim for review, visit rhcjcnews.com/witreq.