Florida has banned the manufacture and sale of lab-grown meat, and several other states have also considered the measure amid concerns about consumer safety and concerns that the technology could harm the beef and poultry industries.
Many startup companies are developing technologies to grow beef, chicken, and fish without harming or slaughtering them using cells collected from animals. The process is expensive and it will be years before so-called lab-grown meat becomes widely available. The Beef and Poultry Association and some conservatives have opposed the industry, calling it anti-farm.
In a press release announcing that he signed the ban, Gov. Ron DeSantis said his administration is committed to investing in local farmers and ranchers. “We’re going to get the beef,” he said.
He also issued the ban as a backlash against “global elites” who “plan to force the world to eat meat or bugs grown in petri dishes to achieve their authoritarian goals.” This press release links to a 2021 article on the World Economic Forum website that discusses global food shortages and laments that insects are often overlooked as a source of protein.
Florida Rep. Lindsay Cross, a Democrat, called the ban “anti-business and contrary to how we seek to promote Florida as a place for free enterprise.”
“We need to have more choices for consumers,” Cross said.
To make and grow meat, cells are removed from live animals and then nutrients such as water, salt, amino acids, minerals and vitamins are added to the cells to grow them in large tanks. The resulting meat product can be molded into patties or sausage shapes.
Like many companies spending millions of dollars to make lab-grown meat, groups concerned about the environmental impact of raising animals for meat have lobbied against Florida's restrictions.
Geopolitics also entered the debate after opponents of the ban raised a recent report published on a Chinese state-run news site that said the Florida ban “strengthens China’s dominant position in the sector.” Chinese government officials have made the development of cultivated meat a priority.
Last year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture approved two California companies to produce and sell farmed chicken. Proponents of grown meat point to the approval as evidence that lab-grown meat is safe.
Wildtype, a San Francisco-based company that studies lab-grown salmon, called the ban a “short-sighted decision driven by politics” on its website.
Tactics to grow food in an environmentally conscious way have become embroiled in America's culture wars. Some studies and polls have shown that food choices are sometimes divided along partisan lines. For example, vegans identify with liberalism, while conservatives eat more meat than others.
Governor DeSantis' remarks at an event held at the Hardee County Cattleman's Arena in Wauchula acknowledged the political divide. Mr. DeSantis, a Republican, said he was protecting the meat industry “against human behavior, against an ideological agenda that problematizes agriculture and sees things like livestock farming as destroying the climate.” .
In wide-ranging remarks, Gov. DeSantis called the meat “fake” and said supporters of the technology want to get rid of meat, cows and chickens. (The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations advocates reducing meat consumption, and some environmentalists support meat-free diets.)
The Governor highlighted several other measures to protect farmland and benefit the agricultural industry. “These are going to be the ones lecturing the rest of us about things like global warming. They will tell you that you cannot drive an internal combustion engine vehicle and that farming is bad,” he said. “Meanwhile, they are flying to Davos on private jets.” This is a reference to the World Economic Forum, an annual meeting in Switzerland that brings together prominent businessmen and politicians from around the world.
Florida's ban would subject anyone making or selling lab-grown meat to up to 60 days in jail. Six other states have considered measures this legislative session to limit the sale of lab-grown meat.
In addition to environmentalists, others opposing the restrictions include companies adjacent to the space industry that want to sell grown meat for space travel. Elon Musk's company, SpaceX, partnered with Aleph Farms, an Israel-based company, to study lab-grown meat from a SpaceX flight to the International Space Station that launched from Florida.