TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV/Gray Florida Capital Bureau) – Florida’s new ban on cultured meat is being challenged in federal court.
The lawsuit, filed this week, says the new law banning the development and sale of lab-grown meat in the state is unconstitutional.
Cultured products are grown in steel tanks from cells of a living animal, a fertilized egg or a storage bank.
Politics in Florida:
Last year, the US Food and Drug Administration approved what is now known as “cell-cultured” or “cell-engineered” meat.
California-based Upside Foods and the Institute for Justice claim the Florida ban is unconstitutional.
“It is clear that states cannot enact laws whose purpose and effect is to unduly burden interstate commerce. That is exactly what Florida has attempted to do here,” said Paul Sherman, an attorney with the Institute for Justice.
When Governor Ron DeSantis signed the ban in May, he said he wanted to protect farmers from a product that has only been around for about a decade.
“We stand behind agriculture. We stand behind ranchers. We stand behind farmers because we understand that it is important to the backbone of this state, that it is important to our culture. It is important to our heritage,” DeSantis said on May 1.
But Uma Valeti, CEO of Upside Foods, said that like everything else, it’s about giving people a choice.
“We do not want to replace conventional meat, it will always have a place on our tables. We want to give consumers a choice,” said Valeti.
The lawsuit asks a federal judge to stop enforcement of the lab meat ban while the case plays out in court.
Alabama also passed a similar ban this year. It will take effect on October 1st.
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