Florida Bans Sale Of Lab-Grown Meat

Florida has become the first state to outlaw the manufacture and distribution of lab-grown meat. But other states including Alabama, Arizona, and Tennessee have similar measures cooking, Ana Goñi-Lessan, Dan Rorabaugh, and Mike Snider reported for USA Today.

Beef is big business in Florida. In 2024, the state ranked ninth for beef cattle production with 862,000.

Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed into law the bill, which would ban lab-grown meat, also called “cultivated” meat because it's grown from animal stem cells. "Take your fake lab-grown meat elsewhere," he said.

"We're not doing that in the state of Florida."

The ban – it does not include Impossible meat, which is made from plant-based ingredients – is meant to protect cattle ranchers and the "integrity of American agriculture," DeSantis argued.

But critics call the move misguided for several reasons. For starters, the first cultivated meat regulatory approvals in the US came through less than a year ago.

With the ban, 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.

“Our administration will continue to focus on investing in our local farmers and ranchers, and we will save our beef.”

Beef is big business in Florida. In 2024, the state ranked ninth for beef cattle production with 862,000.

Beef cattle sales and sales of breeding stock generate an economic impact of more than $900 million annually, according to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.