“Florida is not going to have fake meat.”: DeSantis backs bill seeking to completely ban lab-grown meat

Florida – In recent years, lab-grown meat and regular meat alternatives have been the focus, as the industry has been seeing constant growth year over year. Consultancy firm McKinsey forecasts that the cultivated meat market will be worth 25 billion U.S. dollars by 2030. Looking further ahead, research agencies expect the market value of this new industry to be anywhere between 200 and 800 billion U.S. dollars. But Florida leaders don’t seem to be interested in the lab-grown meat industry and are taking a different approach.

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A Florida lawmaker has recently proposed a bill that should ban cultivated meat completely. This means that no person or entity in Florida would be allowed to be part of any process that involves lab-grown meat in any shape or form if the bill goes into law. According to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, this law would protect Florida’s agriculture.

The details

Gov. Ron DeSantis has endorsed legislation pending in the Legislature that would make it a criminal misdemeanor to manufacture, sell, or distribute “cultivated meat,” defined as “any meat or food product produced from cultured animal cells.”

People, businesses, or entities that sell or offer lab-grown meat items might also risk losing their permission to operate. These products present a different choice from usual farm animals, helping to dodge issues related to the environment and ethics. However, those involved in Florida’s farming scene are not in favor.

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At a press briefing, DeSantis hinted that he views the industry of lab-created meat as yet another way to dictate what Americans do, comparing it to his views on the push for renewable energy.

“They really want to go after agriculture, how they do. They blame agriculture for global warming,” DeSantis said. “You need meat, okay? We’re going to have meat in Florida. Like, we’re not going to have fake meat. Like, that doesn’t work,” he continued.

“But there’s a whole ideological agenda that’s coming after, I think, a lot of important parts of our society. And, like, Florida, we have a lot of agriculture. Florida also relies on reliable energy to power our electric grid, especially in the face of natural disasters. When Hurricane Ian came through, we got the lights back on because we had access to reliable energy. If we had to rely on windmills and solar panels, we would not have gotten the lights back on when we did.”

What is lab-grown meat

Lab-grown meat, also called cultured, cell-based, or clean meat, is meat produced from just a few animal cells. These types of products are a whole new industry now, but is also interesting about its ability to completely transform how we farm animals is causing quite a stir.

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This type of meat is made in a lab by placing a few cells in a special environment that helps them grow into tissue. This process doesn’t involve any plants. The lab-grown meat companies and their backers think that, eventually, their products could replace the need for farming cows, pigs, chickens, and even fish.