The 11th Circuit Court of Appeal is upholding Florida’s 2024 ban of lab-grown meat. Upside Food Inc., a California company that produces cultivating meat, including chicken, challenged the law in court after Senate Bill 1084 went into effect.
SB 1084 bans the sale, manufacture and distribution of cultivated meat in Florida.
Shortly after SB 1084 went into effect, Upside sued Florida’s Commissioner of Agriculture, State Attorneys for four judicial districts in Florida, and the Florida Attorney General, said Circuit Judge Andrew Basher in his 33 page report.
In the report, he said Upside argued that because the U.S. Department of Agriculture approved its lab-grown chicken for sale, Florida could not ban the product. However, the court ruled the state law does not conflict with federal regulations.
“The district court denied Upside’s motion, ruling that Upside was unlikely to succeed on its preemption claims because a ban on lab-grown chicken is not equivalent to a regulation of Upside’s ingredients, premises, facilities, or operations,” said Basher. “We must wade through a morass of justiciability and other preliminary issues before we can reach the merits.”
Gov. Ron DeSantis' press secretary said while he’s in office, “we will never” have lab-grown meat in Florida.
At a 2024 press conference, DeSantis said the law was intended to protect the state's agricultural industry.
“These folks want to eliminate meat production in the United States, actually throughout the world,” DeSantis said. “We stand with agriculture, we stand with cattle ranchers, we stand with our farmers because we understand its importance for the backbone of the state.”
Basher said Upside had showcased its products in Florida before SB 1084 went into effect.
“Upside’s ambitions in Florida are limited to selling and distributing—not manufacturing. No companies produce lab-grown meat in Florida, and Upside is not planning to be the first to do so,” Basher said.
However, there was still a threat seen to agriculture. Basher also said policy makers who promote SB 1084 said it's experimental.
Upside also challenged the definition of “ingredients,” but the appeal court said The Poultry Products Inspection Act (PPIA) said the law applies to non-cellular components.
At this time, Upside has not responded to a request for comment.
