DeSantis sticks a fork into making or selling lab meat in Florida

TALLAHASSEE — There will be no slabs of lab-grown meat for sale in Florida.

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a law Wednesday that bans cultivating, marketing or selling meat grown from animal cells. Violators would face second-degree misdemeanor charges and 60 days in jail.

“Today, 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,” DeSantis said in a news release. “Our administration will continue to focus on investing in our local farmers and ranchers, and we will save our beef.”

The World Economic Forum has stated that people will have to turn to biotechnology and other alternative sources of protein to meet the needs of a growing population and combat climate change.

“Biotechnology holds solutions to both, but we are far from fully realizing its potential to deliver on the green transition,” the agency said in a report in January 2023.

Scientists say 783 million people worldwide are facing food insecurity, a problem that will grow as the population approaches 10 billion by 2050.

The Legislature approved the bill as part of a package that included preempting local governments from regulating electric vehicle-charging stations, pest-control regulations, firearms licenses and other Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services duties.

The ban on lab meats has been criticized as a protectionist measure for the state’s 15,000 cattle ranchers, something supporters have admitted.

“We must protect our incredible farmers and the integrity of American agriculture,” Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson said in the news release. “Lab-grown meat is a disgraceful attempt to undermine our proud traditions and prosperity and is in direct opposition to authentic agriculture.”

One of the bill’s sponsors conceded there is no evidence that cultivated meat is unsafe, just that enough isn’t known about it, despite decades of research.

The new law addresses a non-existent threat. Lab-cultivated meat isn’t currently grown, researched or sold in Florida. The federal government approved it for sale after years of testing but has licensed just two companies to sell it so far.

Cultivated meat is free of disease-causing bacteria like E.coli, relatively low in cholesterol and fat-free, and it doesn’t contribute to greenhouse gasses, researchers say.

The ban “sends a terrible message to the investors, scientists, and entrepreneurs that have built America’s global leadership in alternative proteins,” said Tom Rossmeissl, head of global marketing for GOOD Meat, cultivated meat division of food technology company Eat Just, Inc. “This legislation has always been about one thing – helping one industry, ‘Big Ag,’ avoid accountability and competition. Today, these multinational corporations and their lobbyists won. China will also be celebrating as they are closer to overcoming our nation’s lead in this emerging sector.”