Florida sued over ban on lab-grown meat

UPSIDE Foods, a company that produces meat cultivated in a lab, filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday challenging Florida’s new ban on the production, distribution and sale of lab-grown meat.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida, argues the ban unconstitutionally favors in-state businesses at the expense of out-of-state competitors because cultivated meat is produced outside of Florida.

The Institute of Justice (IJ), which is representing UPSIDE Foods, said in a press release “the law seeks to protect local meat producers from competition, undermining the principles of a national common market.”

“If some Floridians don’t like the idea of eating cultivated chicken, there’s a simple solution: Don’t eat it,” IJ senior attorney Paul Sherman said.

“The government has no right to tell consumers who want to try cultivated meat that they’re not allowed to. This law is not about safety; it’s about stifling innovation and protecting entrenched interests at the expense of consumer choice,” Sherman added.

Cultivated meat is different from vegan and vegetarian products that try to mimic the taste of meat products using ingredients such as soy, legumes or vegetables.

UPSIDE says its meat is grown directly from real animal cells in an effort to preserve the nature and authentic taste of original meat products without needing to raise and slaughter animals. UPSIDE is one of only two companies in the U.S. authorized to sell lab-grown meat.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed the ban into law May 1, and it took effect July 1.

A spokesperson for DeSantis’s office referred The Hill to his statement from the bill signing in May, when he characterized lab-grown meat as a threat to the agricultural industry in Florida and said, “What they want to do is put that out there and then say, ‘You can do this in a lab. You don’t need to do the cattle. You don’t need to do all this. So why don’t you just phase that out?’ That’s ultimately the goal.”

He added, at the time: “We stand with agriculture, we stand with the cattle ranchers, we stand with our farmers because we understand it’s important for the backbone of the state.  It’s important for our culture, it’s important for our heritage.”

In the IJ press release, attorneys pointed to Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Wilton Simpson’s statement announcing the law, which they argued “made its protectionist motivations clear.”

“We must protect our incredible farmers and the integrity of American agriculture,” Simpson said at the time, according to the IJ press release. “Together, we will keep Florida’s agricultural industry strong and thriving.”

IJ attorney Suranjan Sen likened the ban on cultivated meats to a hypothetical ban on Florida orange juice in California.

“For the same reason that California cannot ban orange juice made from oranges grown in Florida, Florida cannot ban UPSIDE’s meat,” Sen said.

“A major purpose for enacting the Constitution was to prevent exactly this kind of economic protectionism, ensuring that all Americans can benefit from a free and open national market. Florida cannot ban products that are lawful to sell throughout the rest of the country simply to protect in-state businesses from honest competition.”

Story was updated at 9:24 p.m. ET