Colo. Rev. Stat. § 25-5-428 – Misbranding of cell-cultivated meat as meat product prohibited - labeling of cell-cultivated meat required - definitions - inspections - stop orders - embargo orders - enforcement - rules.

(1) As used in this section, unless the context otherwise requires:
1. (a) Agricultural food animal means:
  1. (I) A domesticated animal belonging to the bovine, caprine, ovine, or porcine species; or
  2. (II) A live domestic chicken or turkey.
2. (b) Cell-cultivated meat means food having one or more sensory attributes that resembles a type of tissue originating from an agricultural food animal but that, in lieu of being derived from meat processing, is derived from manufacturing cells, in which one or more stem cells are initially isolated from an agricultural food animal, are grown in vitro, and may be manipulated as part of a manufacturing operation.
3. (c) Food processing plant means a commercial operation that manufactures, packages, labels, or stores food for human consumption and does not provide food directly to a consumer.
4. (d) Identifying meat term means any word or phrase that states, indicates, suggests, or describes a meat product, regardless of whether the word or phrase is used individually, as a portmanteau, or as a compound word. Identifying meat term includes:
  1. (I) A common name for the species of the agricultural food animal subject to slaughter and processing, including a calf or cow, a chicken, a goat or kid, a hog or pig, poultry, a lamb or sheep, or a turkey;
  2. (II) A common name for a characteristic of a species of the agricultural food animal subject to slaughter and processing based on age, breed, or sex;
  3. (III) Beef or veal; broiler, fryer, poulet, or yearling; cabrito or chevon; lamb or mutton; or pork;
  4. (IV) A common name used to describe a major cut of the meat of an agricultural food animal slaughtered and processed, including a major meat cut specified in 9 CFR 317.344;
  5. (V) A poultry product such as breast, drumstick, giblet, thigh, or wing;
  6. (VI) The common name of an organ or offal, including gizzard, heart, liver, kidney, or tongue; and
  7. (VII) Any other common name that a reasonable purchaser would immediately and exclusively associate with a meat product prepared for sale in normal commercial channels, such as bacon, baloney, bologna, bone, brat or bratwurst, brisket, burger or hamburger, butt, chop, chuck, cold cut, cutlet, filet, flat iron, frank or frankfurter, ham, hock, hot dog, jerky, liverwurst, loin, London broil, lunch meat, New York strip, pepperoni, porterhouse, ribeye, roast, rib or sparerib, salami, sausage, shank, sirloin, tenderloin, or a comparable word or phrase the department adopts by rule.
5. (e) Meat processing means the handling, preparation, and slaughter of an agricultural food animal; the dressing of its carcass; or the cutting, storage, and packaging of its tissue or other parts as food.
6. (f) Meat product means food derived from meat processing.
7. (g)
  1. (I) Misbranded as a meat product means that cell-cultivated meat or a food containing cell-cultivated meat:
    1. (A) Is sold or offered for sale by a food processing plant; and
    2. (B) Bears a label that includes an identifying meat term.
  2. (II) Notwithstanding subsection (1)(g)(I) of this section, cell-cultivated meat or a food containing cell-cultivated meat is not misbranded as a meat product if:
    1. (A) The label includes a conspicuous and prominent qualifying term in close proximity to the identifying meat term; or
    2. (B) The product contains no more than a trace amount of cell-cultivated meat, as determined by the department.
8. (h) Qualifying term means a word, compound word, or phrase that would clearly disclose to a reasonable purchaser of meat products from a food processing plant that a food is not a meat product. Qualifying term includes cell-cultivated, cell-cultured, grown in a lab, imitation, lab-created, lab-grown, meat free, meatless, and a comparable word or phrase adopted by the department by rule.
(2) A food processing plant shall not sell or offer for sale cell-cultivated meat that is misbranded as a meat product.
(3) A food processing plant that sells or offers for sale cell-cultivated meat shall ensure that each unit of the cell-cultivated meat bears a label that describes the product as cell-cultivated meat in clear, legible type.
(4) The department shall inspect an inventory of food offered for sale or sold at a food processing plant pursuant to section 25-5-421 if the department has reasonable cause to believe that:
1. (a) Cell-cultivated meat sold or offered for sale by the food processing plant is misbranded as a meat product; or
2. (b) The food processing plant is failing to label cell-cultivated meat as required by subsection (3) of this section.
(5)
1. (a) If, after an inspection, the department has reasonable cause to believe that a food processing plant is selling or offering for sale cell-cultivated meat that is misbranded as a meat product, or is failing to label cell-cultivated meat as cell-cultivated meat, the department may issue a stop order. After receiving the stop order, the food processing plant shall not sell the product or offer it for sale until the department determines whether the food is misbranded as a meat product or improperly unlabeled. The department may require the food processing plant to hold the product and secure it from purchase.
2. (b) If the department determines that cell-cultivated meat sold or offered for sale by a food processing plant is misbranded as a meat product, or that a food processing plant has failed to label cell-cultivated meat as required by subsection (3) of this section, the department may issue an embargo order requiring the food processing plant to dispose of the cell-cultivated meat by means other than by sale to purchasers in Colorado.
3. (c) The department, the attorney general, or the district attorney in the district where cell-cultivated meat is being offered for sale or sold may petition the district court to enforce a stop order issued pursuant to subsection (5)(a) of this section or an embargo order issued pursuant to subsection (5)(b) of this section.
(6) The department may adopt rules as necessary to implement this section.

Source: L. 2025: Entire section added, (HB 25-1203), ch. 83, p. 344, § 3, effective August 6.

Editor's note: Section 4(2) of chapter 83 (HB 25-1203), Session Laws of Colorado 2025, provides that the act adding this section applies to food labeled or packaged on or after August 6, 2025.

Cross references: For the legislative declaration in HB 25-1203, see section 1 of chapter 83, Session Laws of Colorado 2025.