Florida’s ban on cultured meat is being challenged in federal court in a lawsuit filed yesterday. The case is being brought by cultured meat company Upside Foods and the Institute for Justice (IJ), a nonprofit public interest law firm.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation making the sale of cultured meat illegal in Florida on May 1, and the bill went into effect July 1. Alabama passed a similar bill banning cultured meat that will go into effect Oct. 1.
The case brought by Upside Foods and the IJ argues that Florida’s ban is unconstitutional in three different ways. First, they argue that the ban violates the Supremacy clause which gives federal law precedence over state law in certain cases. The court case argues that Florida’s ban violates two different provisions of the Federal Meat Inspection Act and the Poultry Products Inspection Act.
The legal complaint It also alleges that the ban violates the Trade clausewhich gives the U.S. Congress the exclusive power to regulate interstate commerce. The IJ holds that the Commerce Clause prevents states from enacting laws that unduly restrict interstate commerce and that Florida’s ban in its current form has the effect of discriminating against them.
“Florida’s law has nothing to do with protecting health and safety,” IJ Senior Attorney Paul Sherman said at a news conference today. “It is a clear example of economic protectionism.”
Sherman said Upside Foods and the IJ would also seek a preliminary injunction that would allow the company to sell Florida-grown meat while the legal challenge is ongoing. The complaint says Upside had planned to distribute its farmed chicken at Art Basel in Miami in early December 2024. The company protested the Florida ban by hosting a tasting of its chicken on June 27 in Miami, shortly before the ban went into effect.
Sherman said the Alabama ban was also “in the crosshairs,” but that the IJ had targeted the Florida law because it went into effect before the Alabama ban. “We’re hoping we can get a quick ruling (in Florida) on a preliminary injunction there,” and use that as a precedent to challenge the Alabama ban, he said.
The lawsuit was welcomed by the Good Food Institute (GFI), a nonprofit that supports plant-based and cultured meat companies and is acting as a consulting counsel in this case. “Consumers should be deciding what kind of meat they want to buy and feed their families, not politicians. This lawsuit seeks to protect these consumer rights, along with the rights of companies to compete in a fair and open marketplace,” GFI director of regulatory affairs Laura Braden said in an emailed statement.
Florida Agricultural Commissioner Wilton Simpson praised The bill banning cultured meat is meant to protect the state’s agricultural industry from new ways of producing meat. “We must protect our incredible farmers and the integrity of American agriculture. Lab-grown meat is a shameful attempt to undermine our proud traditions and prosperity, and is in direct opposition to authentic agriculture,” he said when the bill was signed.
But at the press conference, Upside Food CEO Uma Valeti argued that cultured meat should be seen as a complement to, not a replacement for, conventional animal agriculture. She said watching the Florida legislature pass the bill banning her chicken “was like watching an old boys’ club” of lawmakers protect an established industry against a new technology.