Image Credit: Green Queen

Every week we track the business, tech and investment trends in CPG, retail, restaurants, agriculture, cooking and health, so you don’t have to. Here are some of this week’s top headlines.

Lawmakers across various states are increasingly pushing to ban cultivated meat, citing concerns about its impact on traditional livestock farming. This move, primarily championed by right-wing legislators from states like Arizona to Florida, seeks to restrict the sale of protein cultivated from animal cells. Meanwhile, Marc Lore’s food delivery startup Wonder secures a $700 million investment, with plans to open 100 delivery-focused restaurants in NYC area.

In other news, we’ve wrapped the first season of our podcast in partnership with AgFunder: New Food Order, a nuanced investigation into the business of tackling our climate and social crises through food and agriculture. Read all about why we launched the podcast, and be sure to subscribe and share!

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1. Across the Nation, Lawmakers Aim to Ban Lab-Grown Meat – Inside Climate News

Restricting the sale of protein cultured from animal cells, developed as a way to raise meat without the climate impacts of livestock, has become a trendy right-wing legislative focus in states from Arizona to Florida.

2. Wonder, Marc Lore’s Food Delivery Startup, Raises $700M – WSJ

The former Walmart executive plans to open nearly 100 delivery-focused restaurant locations around the New York City area over the next two years.

3. Ahead of Singapore Launch, Meatable Can Now Make Cultivated Meat Quicker Than Anyone Else – Green Queen

Dutch cultivated meat leader Meatable has cut the production time for its cultivated meat by half, making its hybrid sausages much cheaper to produce.

4. Large Grocers Took Advantage of Pandemic Supply Chain Disruptions, FTC Finds – New York Times

A report found that large firms pressured suppliers to favor them over competitors. It also concluded that some retailers “seem to have used rising costs as an opportunity to further hike prices.”

5. A $20B Deal Depends on Whether You Think Walmart Is a Supermarket – New York Times

Authorities say Kroger’s planned Albertsons takeover will leave fewer traditional supermarkets to compete for Americans’ grocery dollars.

6. Unilever Will Get Up to $20.9M From US Government to Lower Carbon Footprint at Ice Cream Factories – Food Dive

The Department of Energy funding will help the Ben & Jerry’s manufacturer on a project designed to cut 14k metric tons of emissions annually.

7. The Brutality of Sugar: Debt, Child Marriage and Hysterectomies – New York Times

An investigation into the sugar cane industry in the Indian state of Maharashtra found workers ensnared by debt and pushed into child marriages and unnecessary hysterectomies.

7. Patients Hate ‘Forever’ Drugs. Is Wegovy Different? – New York Times

The new obesity drugs might be an exception to a chronic, deadly problem: the failure to stick with medication.

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