Florida Out of Lab-Grown Meat Business

With your Southeast Regional Ag News, I am Haylie Shipp. This is the Ag Information Network.

We’ve circled around the topic numerous times, but now it is official: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has signed a bill banning the sale or production of lab-grown meat in the state.

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

Florida Senate Bill 1084 enacts a wide-ranging ban on cultivated meat, making it illegal “for any person to manufacture for sale, sell, hold, or offer for sale or distribute cultivated meat in Florida.” Violators face misdemeanor penalties, and businesses caught selling the product could have their licenses suspended.

“We must protect our incredible farmers and the integrity of American agriculture,” says Florida Ag Commissioner Wilton Simpson. “Lab-grown meat is a disgraceful attempt to undermine our proud traditions and prosperity.”