Florida becomes the first state to ban cultivated meat
Despite cultivated meat not being widely available yet, Florida has passed a law prohibiting the production and sale of the alternative protein, citing it as a threat to the state's agriculture.
Credit: UPSIDE Foods
Florida has become the first US state to ban the production and sale of cell-cultivated meat.
The state's governor, Ron DeSantis signed bill SB 1084 on Wednesday, calling cultivated meat a "threat" to Florida's agriculture.
“Take your fake lab-grown meat elsewhere. We're not doing that in the state of Florida," DeSantis said at a press conference in Wauchula, Florida.
Cultivated meat, produced directly from cells without the need to slaughter animals and better for the environment, received FDA approval last year, marking a pivotal moment for the industry. Despite this multiyear review from the US Agriculture Department and US Food and Drug Administration, DeSantis claimed the food technology’s “unknowns are so great.”
Although two cultivated meat companies have received safety clearance for their cultivated chicken, it is not available to purchase as the industry continues overcoming production scalability hurdles.
“No one in the field has yet scaled up to the levels you need to produce food for supermarkets,” David Kaplan, a biomolecular engineer focusing on cellular agriculture at Tufts University, told Scientific American. “There’s not even an industry yet. It’s just fledgling!”
Despite this, three other states, Alabama, Arizona and Tennessee, are following in Florida’s footsteps and currently considering similar measures that would ban the production or sale of cell-cultivated meat.
Cultivated meat company Good Food wrote on X it was "disappointed" by the new Florida law.
"In a state that purportedly prides itself on being a land of freedom and individual liberty, its government is now telling consumers what meat they can or cannot purchase," it said.
UPSIDE Foods also criticized the decision. “This decision ignores food safety experts, takes away consumer food choice, and hinders American innovation in a sector America has historically led,” the cultivated meat company wrote on Instagram.
“Let’s be clear: this law does not protect consumers. It is “food policing” to protect entrenched interests, defying free market principles and limiting consumer autonomy for a product the food safety experts at USDA and FDA have deemed safe.
“Despite the ban, we’ll be over here continuing to fight for a better food future,” the post added.
Why Did Florida Ban Cultivated Meat?
Research indicates that cultivated meat has the potential to generate emissions that are up to 92 percent lower than those from conventional meat. It could also lead to a reduction of up to 94 percent in air pollution linked to meat production and use as much as 90 percent less land.
“We could satisfy demand for meat while protecting the environment,” Alice Ravenscroft, the head of policy at the Good Food Institute Europe, an NGO helping to build a more sustainable food system, previously told The Guardian.
Given the escalating climate crisis, where animal agriculture contributes up to one-fifth of planet-warming emissions, and with meat consumption projected to rise by 50 percent by 2050, why are some states fighting against cultivated meat - a solution that could provide consumers with real meat while eliminating the need to farm and slaughter trillions of animals every year?
Experts believe the motive is political.
“These are political efforts to rile up voters,” Sparsha Saha, a lecturer on meat politics at Harvard told The Guardian. “Meat is inherently political. We know that meat attachment is higher on the right. We know that masculinity norms tend to be stronger among conservative men – and meat is associated with masculinity … If you’re a politician and you want to make sure that conservative men are getting mobilized to come out and vote, this is a really good political strategy.”
In a statement, DeSantis said “Florida is fighting back against the global elite’s plan to force the world to eat meat grown in a petri dish or bugs to achieve their authoritarian goals. Our administration will continue to focus on investing in our local farmers and ranchers, and we will save our beef.”
In 2024, Florida ranked ninth for beef cattle production with beef cattle sales and sales of breeding stock generating a total economic impact of more than $900 million annually, according to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
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