Florida's governor says he will "save our beef, but a lab-grown meat firm calls it an assault on liberty.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has banned lab-grown meat, saying he will “save our beef” from the “global elite” and its “authoritarian plans”.

“Florida is fighting back against the global elite’s plan to force the world to eat meat grown in a petri dish or bugs,” Mr DeSantis said in a statement.

The first-in-the-nation law prohibits anyone from selling or distributing lab-grown meat in Florida.

Similar efforts are under way in Alabama, Arizona and Tennessee.

Lab-grown or “cultivated” meat was first cleared for consumption in the US in 2022.

The process of making cultivated meat involves extracting cells from an animal, which are then fed with nutrients such as proteins, sugars and fats. The end product is genetically indistinguishable from traditionally produced meat.

Studies have suggested that eating cultivated meat can cut carbon emissions and water usage, and free up land for nature, compared to eating traditionally produced meat.

  • m-p{3}A
    16•17 days ago

    Who else than a large corp with sufficient funding can develop and market lab-grown meat anyway? Of course this kind of stuff will come from a large corp at first. Is he willing to launch a state-owned lab to fund it publicly? Yeah, I didn’t think so.

    It’s not like people will jump at the opportunity to buy some backyard-shed-grown meat today, as appetizing that might sound.

      • Admiral PatrickEnglish
        6•17 days ago

        I’m holding out for free-range lab-grown meat. /s

        I’m actually excited to try it if ever given the opportunity. Have been incorporating meat alternatives over the last 2 years and have cut out about 70% of my former beef consumption. Which, for me, is a lot.

        • Flying Squid
          7•17 days ago

          All I care about are two things: Does it taste good and is it okay to eat? If it fulfills those two requirements, I have no problem with it.