Florida has to go to court because of its ban on cultured meat. The meat does not come from a cow, but from a laboratory. The lawyers of a Californian producer now say the restrictions are unfair and unconstitutional.
The lawsuit was filed Monday in federal court for the Northern District of Florida, which is located just outside the state Capitol in Tallahassee, and if the plaintiffs succeed, it could overturn one of the first bans on synthetic meat in the country.
“We don’t want to replace conventional meat, it will always have a place on our tables,” said Dr. Uma Valeti, founder of UPSIDE. “We want to give consumers a choice.”
Dr. Valeti, a cardiologist by profession, founded UPSIDE Foods in 2015. The Berkeley-based company grows meat, poultry and seafood directly from animal cells. It is now suing Florida, its agriculture secretary and its attorney general over the 2024 ban on synthetic meat, SB 1084. The new law, which took effect in July, prevents the sale and manufacture of the stuff in the Sunshine State.
In UPSIDE’s lawsuit, attorneys argue the restrictions are unconstitutional because the federal government has authority to regulate meat and poultry. They also claim SB 1084 was an attempt to protect Florida farmers from competition.
“States simply don’t have the power to block products approved by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration,” said Paul Sherman, an attorney with the Institute for Justice, which represents UPSIDE. “And if consumers don’t like the idea of cultured meat, there’s a simple solution – they don’t have to eat it.”
Florida Agriculture Secretary Wilton Simpson called the lawsuit “ridiculous” in a statement.
“There is no evidence that lab-grown ‘meat’ is safe enough for consumers, and it is being pushed by a liberal agenda aimed at shutting down farms,” Simpson said. “Let’s leave the Frankenmeat experiment to California.”
His comments echo those of Gov. Ron DeSantis, who signed the restrictions earlier this year. At a press conference in February, DeSantis made clear his intention to sign the law into law.
“You need meat, OK?” he said. “We’re going to have meat in Florida. We’re not going to have fake meat. That doesn’t work.”
The sponsor of SB 1084 did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit. When we spoke during the legislative session a few months ago, Rep. Danny Alvarez (R-Riverview) also emphasized safety, even as federal regulators give the green light to cultured meat in 2023.
“Simply put, it’s about safety,” Alvarez said. “There’s no long-term safety data on cultured protein, we know it can happen, and we know it’s been approved by the USDA for human consumption. But after that, we have no idea what it’s going to do. So until then, we’re just going to put the brakes on.”
Those “pauses,” however, may not last if the lawsuit is successful. Lawyers are seeking an injunction to prevent enforcement. That would not only prevent a similar law from being passed in Alabama, but also prevent other states from getting a taste of the idea in the future.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs have said they will also seek a temporary restraining order to put the new law on hold until the entire legal case is resolved. They plan to file that by the end of the week, after which the judge will decide how to proceed.
Scripps Content Only 2024
