Two California companies can now offer lab-grown meat in restaurants and eventually supermarkets following approval of their products by the U.S. Department of Agriculture last June. But those same products would be banned in Florida if lawmakers approve a proposal moving through the Legislature.
The bill by Tampa Bay-area Republican Jay Collins (SB 1084) would make it unlawful for anyone to manufacture, sell, hold or offer for sale, or distribute “cultivated” meat in Florida. A violator could be charged with a second-degree misdemeanor.
Additionally, the bill would subject any restaurant, store, or other business to having their license suspended for offering the product.
Collins says his motivation is to protect Florida consumers.
“There are many concerns right here and, until we have those studies and there’s proof positive that this process is going to work, we want to ban this in the state of Florida because it’s just not there quite yet,” Collins told the Senate Appropriations Committee on Agriculture, Environment, and General Government on Thursday.
Cultivated meat is genuine animal meat (including seafood and organ meats) that is produced by growing animal cells directly. This eliminates the need to raise animals for food. According to the Good Food Institute, cultivated meat is made of the same cell types that can be arranged in the same or similar structure as animal tissues, thus replicating the sensory and nutritional profiles of conventional meat.
Among the biggest supporters of the Collins proposal in the Legislature is Gov. Ron DeSantis.
“You need meat, okay?” he said at an appearance in Bowling Green last week. “We’re going to have meat in Florida. We’re not going to do that fake meat. Like, that doesn’t work.”
While several states have passed laws regarding labeling of cultivated meat, no state has gone as far as the GOP-controlled Legislature is contemplating in banning it outright, although lawmakers in Arizona are advancing a similar proposal.
Big Farm
The agriculture establishment in Florida is strongly behind the bill, including the Florida Farm Bureau, the Florida Poultry Federation, the Florida Cattlemen’s Association, and the Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association. Sen. Collins acknowledged working closely with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services in crafting the legislation.
But entrepreneurs in the cultivated meat industry came to testify to the committee that some of what Collins was saying wasn’t accurate.
“I want to correct Sen. Collins here that both the FDA and the USDA have already approved this product with no questions,” said Dr. René Viñas, a board-certified toxicologist with Upside Foods, which markets these products. “Please let consumers decide what to eat and do not criminalize cultivated meat.”
“If the concern as we’ve heard is about consumer safety, this is something that the FDA and USDA will be looking at and is looking at today very closely,” said Mark Shelley, chief legal officer with Believer Meats, an Israeli company building a full-scale lab-grown meat production facility in North Carolina.
“We will be regulated by the USDA. They will regulate us because they view us as real chicken meat. We will be held to the same standards as conventional chicken. If the concern is about labeling and informing consumers, likewise we will be held to a standard of USDA and have the labels to inform consumers about what they are buying and consuming,” Shelley continued.
“By potentially criminalizing cultivated meat, poultry, and seafood, this bill stifles innovation, limits consumer choice and free market principles, and undermines economic growth,” added Lou Cooperhouse, president & CEO with BlueNalu, which produces cultivated seafood in San Diego.
“In the meantime, China has prioritized cultivated meat with its unwavering investment and policy support and made this industry a key part of its blueprint for global protein domination,” he added.
Stifle innovation
Broward County Democratic Sen. Tina Polsky questioned why the Legislature would want to stifle innovation.
“I feel like this is a political bogeyman,” she said. “There is never going to be a shortage of people who want poultry and cattle and fish, but why would we ever stop innovation and technology and new enterprise?”
The measure passed on a party-line vote, with all three Democrats on the committee opposing it.
The House equivalent (HB 1071) sponsored by Hillsborough County Republican Danny Alvarez has made its way through one committee.
Supporters of cultivated meat say it’s better for the environment. Regular meat is a top contributor to the average U.S. household’s carbon footprint, according to the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
However, a non-peer reviewed UC-Davis study from 2023 found that cultivated meat’s environmental impact is likely to be “orders of magnitude” higher than retail beef based on existing and near-term production methods.
–Mitch Perry, Florida Phoenix
Duncan says
GOP is the new stupid!
PC Resident says
Do we need a better system than the theater of elected officials? It’s difficult to navigate proper information. Fake meat seems scary, for sure, but what’s the science. We need real information–not inflated praise for the benefits of it to our planet as if it’s a gift to humanity vs. how terrifying and scary and dangerous it is.
There are serious issues that come before elected officials from the local level to state and federal levels where it seems actual reality is beyond them. They work the polls–on both sides of the political spectrum, adhering like leeches to some over-inflated sense of party ideals.
Ed p says
Can you say Food Pyramid? Do you believe you save energy by turning back thermostats in winter? If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor?
I for one will never eat lab grown meat. I struggle with trying to stay away from all gmo.
They don’t even recommend farm raised salmon. I’m glad Florida is being proactive and taking the long view until the west coast test subjects (Californians) prove it to be safe and delicious. Is this really progress and innovation or just about the money?
Who do we trust?
Shelly says
If it’s “lab grown”, it can’t be good for you with all the chemicals they’re putting into it, not to mention how much CARBON they’re using to make fake meat.
Doug says
When our government, i.e., the USDA approves a product such as this, and California is behind the innovation, everyone in their right mind should be skeptical. In case you haven’t noticed, but most products we buy have some sort of warning to California residents on the packaging. Why, when no other states do? Why is that liberal run state always in the forefront, and not because its leadership is better than every other state, because it’s not. Large amounts of money will buy approval from any source, and as such, people need to be questioning it. And, Broward County “Democratic” Sen. Tina Polsky, you eat it then. Thank you Governor DeSantis for protecting Florida’s agricultural interests.
dave says
Nope for me, real meat not grown in a lab “meat fermenter.” And full of preservatives or no meat at all.. The rest of the story. https://cleanfoodfacts.com/how-do-they-grow-cell-based-meat/#:~:text=Here%20are%20just%20a%20few,compound%20used%20to%20bind%20ions.
Adam Friedland says
Pierre- please keep in mind the Vegan readers on this site.. I dry heaved at that image. My wifes son also became upset.
Please take this into account and do better for your Vegan Readers.
Still here in Flagler says
As long as lab grown meat has the same chemical make up that animal meat has (amino acids, the essential building blocks of life) and has no growth hormones, no antibiotics, no grains used for feed that have been sprayed with Roundup, I would look into lab grown meat after a thorough investigation.
Animal meat products contain:
1. Growth hormones.
2. Antibiotics.
3. Glyphosate (Roundup) transferred to humans indirectly through the Roundup-laced grains fed to animals.
Looking at the above, I would venture to say that lab-grown meat might be a much more healthy alternative. Plus there’s no inhumane treatment of animals involved.
You can also take a look at the documentary called, “Diet for a New America”, if you really want to face the truth of bringing meat products to your table. Most people don’t want to be confronted with the truth because then they have to be responsible for their choices.
I Just Love Flagler Beach says
Yes, please do let consumers decide what to eat here in the free state of Florida. Apparently, the red side of the aisle needs to know that an animal suffered and died so that they can enjoy their real meat.
R.S. says
Oh, goodness. Have you ever studied the chemicals that find their way into the animal and thus in the consumer as it is right now? And the methane put into the atmosphere by the animals doesn’t bother you?
R.S. says
What are Jay Collins’ credentials for making binding nutritional choices for others. As far as I can tell, he’s been in the military. I don’t see how that would qualify him as a nutritionist. Perhaps another populist in the making here.
Laurel says
Adam F: Are you serious?
Pogo says
@WTF (Welcome To Floriduh)
Are these midgets part of the flea circus famous for: government not picking winners in business competition, competition is the American way, etc.? You can bet your teeth — if this was a product of Koch Industries, or was in the investment portfolio of the church with branches on the planet Kolob, and the like, it would be in every school lunch in Florida.
Many of the passengers in the elected Republican Party clown car that is towing us all off a washed out bridge are allegedly lawyers. Apparently, they all missed classes on restraint of trade (and the Constitution of the United States of America, and much more).
Related
As stated
https://www.google.com/search?q=restraint+of+trade
Sherry says
@ doug. . . please cite your credentialed evidence that the consumer protection laws of California are corrupt. Otherwise we’ll consider your comment politically biased garbage.
Ed P says
Pogo,
Did you know you can’t buy a menthol cigarette in Massachusetts or New York? But you can buy weed! Fireworks are available in some states but not others. If you are in a “spectrum cable area” Cox cable is not available. The point is, there are plenty of products throughout the United States that are available in some states, counties, or cities, and not in others.
Pogo says
@Whoever, and whatever, you are
So the domain of the ATF, and DEA, has what to do with food?
Much less the domain of the FCC. BTW, FYI, the rationale for creating cable franchises, and its history, is readily accessible by internet search.
After almost 50 years of dealing with the situational ethics, gaslighting, and ordinary three-card Monte antics of Amway victims, Libertarians, Anarchy for hereditary wealth enthusiasts, Ditto Heads, and other confused Republicans — I’m over it.
Now we’ve each said what we think — good luck, and adios.
Related
As stated
http://critiques.us/index.php?title=Critiques_Of_Libertarianism