Section 1
Enacts new GS 106-549.28A requiring that the label of any manufactured-protein food product (a cell-cultured food product, insect-protein food product, or plant-protein food product) containing an identifying meat term to also contain an appropriate qualifying term; sets out requirements for the font and size of the term on the label. Failure for products to do so will be deemed misbranded under Article 29B (Meat Inspection Requirements; Adulteration and Misbranding); makes a conforming change to the definition of misbranded in GS 106-549.15. Further adds to and amends definition in GS 106-549.15, as they apply to Article 29B, as follows. Defines identifying meat term as 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; sets out examples of what is included in the term. Defines cell-cultured food product as a food product having one or more sensory attributes that resemble 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. Defines insect-protein food product as a food product having one or more sensory attributes that resemble a type of tissue originating from an agricultural food animal but that, in lieu of being derived from meat processing, is derived from manufacturing insect parts. Defines manufactured-protein food product as a cell-cultured food product, insect-protein food product, or plant-protein food product. Also defines agricultural food animal, close proximity, plant-protein food product, and qualifying term. Amends the definition of the term meat food product so that it includes products capable of use as human food that is made wholly or in part from any cell-cultured food product made from cells of cattle, sheep, swine, goats, bison, fallow deer, or red deer.   
Enacts new GS 106-549.55 requiring the label of any manufactured-protein food product containing an identifying poultry term to also contain an appropriate qualifying term; sets out requirements for the font and size of the term on the label. Amends the definitions in GS 106-549.51, as they apply to Article 49D, Poultry Products Inspection Act, as follows. Defines cell-cultured food product as a food product having one or more sensory attributes that resemble a type of tissue originating from poultry 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 poultry, are grown in vitro, and may be manipulated, as part of a manufacturing operation. Defines close proximity, insect-protein food product, and manufactured-protein food product, as they are defined above. Also defines identifying poultry term, plant-protein food product and qualifying term. Amend the definition of misbranded so that it also applies to any poultry product that is a manufactured-protein food product that is not labeled in accordance with GS 106-549.55. Amends the definition of poultry product to include any cell-cultured food product made from cells of poultry.
Applies to products sold or offered for sale on or after October 1, 2025.
Section 2
Amends GS 115C-12 to require the State Board of Education to prevent the purchase of a food product that is misbranded as a meat or poultry product as prohibited in Articles 48B and 49D of GS Chapter 106, as discussed above, or is a cell-cultured food product, as defined above. Requires the same ban for local boards of education (GS 115C-264.6), charter schools (GS 115C-218.75), regional schools (GS 115C-238.66), laboratory schools (GS 116-239.8), State Board of Community Colleges (GS 115D-20) and the UNC constituent institutions (GS 116-43.26). Effective October 1, 2025, and applies beginning with the 2026-27 school and academic years.
Section 3
Adds new Article 5K, Animal Agriculture and Analogues Environmental Investment Assessment, in GS Chapter 105, providing as follows. Defines analogue product as a food product derived by combining processed plant products, insects, or fungi with food additives to approximate the texture, flavor, appearance, or other aesthetic qualities or the chemical characteristics of any specific type of animal agriculture product; includes cell-cultured products. Defines animal agriculture product as a food product that is a dairy product, egg, egg product, meat, meat food product, poultry, or poultry product; excludes an analogue product. Sets out and defines other terms that are used in the Article.
Imposes an environmental investment assessment (EIA) of 5¢ on each item of an animal agriculture product or an analogue product sold at retail if it bears an identifying term on the product's label. Defines item as an item identified by a universal product code or other identifier representing the item and that is used to retrieve the sales price of the item. Intends for the EIA to be passed on to the purchaser of the item and borne by the purchaser instead of by the retailer; requires the retailer to collect the EIA when sold at retail. Requires retailers to record the protein group to which any animal agriculture product or analogue product belongs and report this information to the Department of Revenue (Department) when it remits the collected EIAs to the Department. Allows the retailer to keep 1% of the gross proceeds of the EIAs it collects for the retailer's administrative costs. Requires the EIA to be stated and charged separately on the invoices or other retailer documents given to the purchaser, except for vending machine sales or where a retailer displays a statement indicating the sales price includes the tax.
Sets out provisions for the collection and administration of the EIA. States that the EIA does not apply to: (1) sales the State cannot constitutionally tax; (2) products of a farm sold in their original state by the producer of the products if the producer is not primarily a retail merchant; (3) prepared food; (4) products containing ingredients from more than one protein group; (5) meat food products or poultry products with a nonmeat or nonpoultry component other than seasoning, brine solution, or vinegar, or analogue products to such meat food products or poultry products; and (6) except as otherwise provided in this statute, the exemptions and refunds allowed in Article 5 of GS Chapter 105 do not apply to sales of items subject to assessment under this Article.
Allows the Department to keep up to 2% of the net proceeds of the EIA for administrative costs. Remaining funds must be credited quarterly to the trade associations proportionate to the amount of funds collected from the sale of products in each protein group. Defines trade associations as: North Carolina Cattleman's Association, North Carolina Dairy Producers Association, North Carolina Deer and Elk Farmers Association, North Carolina Egg Association, North Carolina Pork Council, North Carolina Poultry Federation, and North Carolina Sheep Producers Association. Requires that 2% of the funds credited to each trade association be used for the costs of administering the grant program, with the remainder used only to implement environmental improvement projects on the farms of constituent members of the trade associations. Requires each trade association to develop (1) an application process for constituent members to apply for funds for environmental improvement projects and (2) a process for evaluating applications. Defines an environmental improvement project as a project intended to improve water quality, increase soil health, reduce flood risks, reduce chemical inputs, increase biodiversity, preserve farmland, or achieve similar ecological goals. Requires funds credited to the trade associations not awarded by a trade association for 18 months to be remitted to the Agricultural Development and Farmland Preservation Trust Fund.
Applies to products sold on or after October 1, 2025.
Section 3
Includes a severability clauses.
Effective October 1, 2025, unless otherwise indicated.

Statutes affected:
Filed: 106-549.15, 106-549.51, 106-549.55, 115C-12, 115C-218.75, 115C-238.66, 116-239.8, 115D-20