Americans turn their noses up at lab-grown meat: voters overwhelmingly reject the planet-friendly food that Republicans are banning, a Daily Mail poll shows

It's nutritious and doesn't hurt the planet, but lab-grown meat still has its problems.

Simply put: Americans just don't want to put it on a fork and taste it.

That's according to a DailyMail.com/TIPP Poll, which found that only a fifth of voters were keen to try the cultured alternative to meat.

An overwhelming two thirds of Americans say they are not keen to try it, and another 14 percent were not sure.

One of the 21 percent of people who was willing to give lab-grown meat the taste test 

Our survey revealed great resistance to a product that Republicans say will hurt ranchers and farmers   

Our survey comes as Republicans in several states seek to ban the product, saying it will hurt ranchers, farmers, and meat-packers.

Advocates say the products are packed with protein and cause less emissions of planet-heating gases than regular farming.

That's making lab-grown meat a new front in America's culture wars.

Florida's Republican-controlled House this month approved a wide-ranging bill that would ban lab-grown meat.

The bill, which has yet to be signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, would make it a second-degree misdemeanor to sell or manufacture lab-grown meat.

Similar legislation in Alabama and Arizona features huge fines and even prison time for those selling the products.

Still, lab-grown meat firms are optimistic that meat grown in massive steel vats will soon be widely available in restaurants and supermarkets.

Their product is derived from a small sample of cells collected from livestock, which is then fed nutrients, and grown in enormous steel vessels called bioreactors.

Advocates of lab-grown meat say it's lean, safe, nutritious, and doesn't hurt the planet 

It is then processed into something that looks and tastes like a real cut of meat.

But the companies are struggling to offer their beef steaks and chicken breasts at a more affordable price.

Along the way, they must overcome a reluctance among some consumers to even try lab-grown meat.

Our nationwide survey of 1,419 adults earlier this month shows they have their work cut out.

An overwhelming 65 percent of respondents said they were not keen to try lab grown meat.

Only 21 percent of them said they wanted to give it a shot.

Opinions were similar across the country, although those in the West were slightly less hostile to the cultured products.

While a third of young adults were keen to taste lab-grown meat, only 11 percent of those aged 65 and above felt the same way.

Men were slightly more likely to give it a shot than women, and blacks and Latinos were keen on a dietary experiment than were whites. 

The product is derived from cells from livestock, which are fed nutrients, and grown in enormous steel vessels 

Lab-grown meat: not everybody is willing to give it a shot

There was also a partisan divide. Fully 31 percent of Democrats were keen to try the product, compared to just 14 percent of Republicans.

Janet Tomiyama, a health psychologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, says people are grossed out by cultivated meat.

Some consumers perceive it to be 'unnatural' and don't want to try it, she told Reuters.

In a 2022 study published in the Journal of Environmental Psychology, she found that 35 percent of meat eaters and 55 percent of vegetarians would be too disgusted to try cultivated meat.

Our survey suggests that attitudes against the products are hardening.

That could be bad for the environment.

Growing meat in a steel vessel instead of in a field could reduce the environmental impact of livestock.

According to the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization, livestock causes 14.5 percent of the world's planet heating gases through feed production, deforestation, manure management, and 'animal burps.'